Cheshire’s police and crime commissioner has apologised for an “inappropriate and unacceptable” comment he made about schoolgirls wearing ‘very short skirts’ and said he is not a misogynist, writes Belinda Ryan.
John Dwyer made the comment during a meeting of Culcheth and Glazebury Parish Council back in November in a discussion about abuse and violence faced by women and young girls.
He is said to have been heard saying “I notice schoolgirls in my area are all wearing very short skirts and this did not happen in the 1960s”.
It sparked a complaint made to Cheshire Police and Crime Panel and has prompted calls for his resignation.
The complaint was recently upheld by the panel.
At yesterday’s (Friday) meeting of the police and crime panel, Mr Dwyer apologised again for his comment.
He told the meeting: “I have issued a total apology for making that comment.
“It was inappropriate, I made a mistake, and I understand that your complaints panel, and indeed the complainant themselves, have accepted the apology.
“I want to make absolutely clear to all of you that I am not a misogynist and I hope you, and the greater public, can see me in the light of what I’ve done in terms of excellent work actually focusing our efforts on protecting women and girls in this county.”
Yasmin Somani, co-opted panel member, told Mr Dwyer: “At all our formal and informal meetings I’ve seen you be nothing but very serious about violence against women and young girls and I appreciate that.
“Sometimes things happen in isolation, that is not a reflection on a person’s position more broadly.”
Cllr Sam Naylor (CWAC) called on the commissioner to “consider his position”.
Cllr Naylor said there was no doubt Mr Dwyer had added value to the role of police and crime commissioner.
He said he accepted what he had just said ‘but in view of the fact that the police and crime commissioner is a check and balance on what Cheshire Police is doing, I think the police and crime commissioner should be above any complaint’.
He added: “All I’d say is that I think he should at least consider his position.”
Cllr Judy Snowball (CEC, Lab) said: “I welcome the commissioner’s comments and apology and I welcome Cllr Naylor’s comments as well.”
She asked whether this would be an opportunity to review the organisations the commissioner had set up to address the challenges of violence against women and girls.
“I would personally welcome that opportunity to look at how they function, how they’re run, the success of them, their objectives and whether these are achieved and just overall examine these organisations and get a much clearer more in-depth picture of the commissioner’s work in these organisations in the general focus against violence against women and girls,” said Cllr Snowball.
Mr Dwyer replied: “I think it is appropriate for the panel to be aware of just the extent of the work that’s going on in this county driven by myself to protect women and girls.”
I’m disappointed that boys aren’t wearing mini skirts.
He is said to have been heard saying “I notice schoolgirls in my area are all wearing very short skirts and this did not happen in the 1960s”.
So what are you all reading into that? clearly he was expressing something from memory, is that now to be taken as an insult?or just a comment, as it was not followed by Safety, Unwise or Not a good idea
It was a comment on the length, not suitability, not expressing any concern, or offering any solution, I do think you have to get a grip on what is offending you, and offer solutions instead of blaming everyone else
OR MAYBE TWIST THE NARRATIVE
I notice schoolboys in my area are all wearing bright trainers and this did not happen in the 1960s”
So have you now been offended? I thought not!!
Carl, it’s not the clothing that is inappropriate, its the mind set of mostly men. Girls are fully aware the power they have in dressing, but somewhere along the line they will have parents that temper the young peoples desire to be attractive and young, happily sitting close by them you can bet your last £ they will have strict instructions and safe practices in place to protect their daughters safety, It is no different to the 1960’s but what is different now is more mobility, social media hype and drugs freely available. Parents are not fools they were young once too
He has selective memory, skirts were indeed very short in the ’60’s when at school the head would measure with a wooden rule 4″ only from above the knee to the hem, but immediately out of school they would be rolled up even shorter, the difference to today was we wore thick black tights under them, never bare legs. Laughable as we never wore a bra either, in the ’60’s/70’s Young people will wear what they want, there should be no fear, but then we need blokes to realise they may look but never touch, just glad we don’t live in really strict countries where females have zero right to expression in their clothes
IF that’s his attitude – women are asking for it – he should hang his head in shame and RESIGN IMMEDIATELY and stick to the Daily Mail to get his opinions
Tate is a sex trafficker, plain and simple. The reason young men idolise him is because he has a skill of being able to talk in the language they understand and as men mature slower than women, he’s able to enstill his views on them before they have the mental capacity to understand what he is saying Be honest, when you were 15/16/17 would you have listened to the mamby bamby liberal nutjobs telling you that as a man you are nothing or the apparent gigachad telling you that you can do anything with enough work? He is a great communicator, he is also a giant POS and I hope the romanians throw him in a cell for the rest of his life.
Guy said schoolgirls were not wearing short skirts in the 60s, and he would be correct. I’m sorry if this is a hot take but I agree and if I were him I would not have backed down, I have lost count of the times I have seen young girls dressed in wildly inappropriate clothes. Now TBVC, no matter what the girl is wearing, abuse is never justified but the guy has a point and its sad we’ve reached the point where pointing out an obvious fact (allowing girls to sexualise themselves attracts attention from less than savoury characters) starts the cancel pigs off. Its funny that they don’t understand the secondary effect of their argument because they’re so caught up trying to virtue signal.
Skirts were far shorter in the 1960’s but real men in those days were respectful of women by and large, far too many blokes now take on and celebrate the warped view that Tate weirdo spouts, the guy is toxic yet he still draws a crowd, you have to wonder really why this is? society has certainly regressed
What a mistake. Check Mary Quant who introduced the mini skirt in the 1960’s and then hot pants. Not sure of the spelling of her surname but he is so out of touch. Having lived through the 60’s I think he should have had one of his many staff to research the decade of the 1960’s.