Elections 2022: Apology for Plaid tweet showing minister as witch

Plaid Cymru said the cartoon was inappropriate and has apologised

Plaid Cymru has apologised for a tweet which included a cartoon that depicted minister Julie Morgan as a witch.

The message, now deleted, was sent by a Plaid account representing the party's candidates in Grangetown, Cardiff, for the council elections on 5 May.

A Labour candidate said the image was misogynistic and racist and claimed it showed black Welsh minister Vaughan Gething as a white man.

Plaid said the cartoon was shared "by a volunteer on a local account".

The illustrator Dan Peterson rejected the criticism of the image, drawn in protest against plans for a new hospital in Cardiff.

He said he did not think the cartoon, originally published on Twitter last year, was either racist, sexist or misogynistic.

The Plaid Grangetown tweet said the cartoon was "excellent" and showed "how Labour run Cardiff City Council are destroying green spaces in our city".

Sara Robinson, a Labour candidate in the ward, tweeted: "Err. Vaughan Gething as a WHITE man? Julie Morgan as a WITCH?"

She said it was "somewhat racist/misogynistic".

Julie Morgan is Labour's deputy minister for social services and is Member of the Senedd (MS) for Cardiff North.

Mr Gething said it was "hard to believe anyone" in Plaid Cymru Grangetown "thought this was a good idea".

"You'd have thought the misogyny directed at Angela Rayner might have made people stop and reflect. Apparently not."

Campaigners have been angry about plans to build a new hospital at a meadows in Whitchurch

Mr Peterson said he was not a member of Plaid Cymru, or the Greens who are standing on a joint platform with the party for the Cardiff council elections.

"The most important point is that this is a cartoon. Political in nature and designed to draw attention to an issue and invite discussion and debate. It is very mild by comparison to the work of many recognised cartoonists in national newspapers.

"When I first published it on social media it had limited effect and there were no complaints from anyone depicted in it. It's interesting that these complaints have been made now as we approach an election."

He said Ms Morgan was "portrayed in the cartoon as the Wicked Witch of the North. A reference to her position as MS for Cardiff North and her current position with regard to the Velindre development on the Northern Meadows".

He said "the mythical portrayal of witches has been as both bad and good", and Mr Gething's comment that it compares to the Angela Rayner row was "laughable".

He said the colour of the skin in this drawing "reflects the colour of his skin in the source material used" - which he said was a "a photograph found on the internet".

Mr Peterson said the cartoon was drawn in protest at Welsh government-backed plans for a new cancer hospital at Northern Meadows in Whitchurch, Cardiff.

The Welsh government gave the go-ahead for the hospital last year. An attempt at a judicial review by campaigners was rejected in the High Court in September.

A Plaid Cymru spokesperson said: "The inappropriate cartoon was shared by a volunteer on a local account. It has since been deleted and we apologise for the offence caused."

The candidates standing in Grangetown ward are:

• Joseph Anyaike, Welsh Conservative

• Tariq Awan, Plaid Cymru/Green Party Common Ground

• Joe Fathallah, Welsh Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition

• Jonathan Paul Gee, Propel

• Conor Holohan, Welsh Conservative

• Sarah King, Plaid Cymru/Green Party Common Ground

• Irfan Latif, Welsh Liberal Democrats

• Ash Lister, Welsh Labour

• David Paul Morgan, Welsh Liberal Democrats

• Luke Nicholas, Plaid Cymru/Green Party Common Ground

• Sailesh Patel, Propel

• Llyr Powell, Welsh Conservative

• Sara Robinson, Welsh Labour

• Abdul Sattar, Welsh Labour

• Aamir Sheikh, Welsh Liberal Democrats

• Frankie-Rose Taylor, Plaid Cymru/Green Party Common Ground

• Lynda Doreen Thorne, Welsh Labour

• Michael James Voyce, Propel

• Vivienne Ward, Welsh Conservative

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