A Conservative candidate in the upcoming General Election has threatened to take legal action in a row over his own vandalised campaign posters which appeared to have been altered after the event.
Simon Hart, who is standing for re-election in the Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire constituency, has been asked to explain why two swastikas appear to have been added to an election board which was vandalised more than two years ago.
In 2017, prior to that year's general election, Mr Hart complained his campaign had been blighted by “offensive slogans and language" and that election boards had been defaced with swastikas.
Commenting on the issue two years ago, Mr Hart said: “To see Nazi swastikas daubed over my election boards in Carmarthenshire between Pendine and Laugharne was terrible.”
However, the picture he shared on that occasion did not have any swastikas on it, only the words “WILL STARVE YOUR NAN AND STEAL YOUR HOUSE” under the words Simon Hart.
Then, last month, Mr Hart posted what appeared to be a picture of the same defaced election board on Facebook, while calling for an improvement to the “tone and nature” of this current campaign compared with the abuse he endured in 2017.
However, some people noticed a key difference in the picture posted - the vandalised poster now contained two swastikas.
This prompted one politician to raise questions as to where the swastikas had come from.
Writing on Twitter, the shadow secretary of state for Wales, Christina Rees, who is the Welsh Labour and Cooperative Party candidate for Neath in the upcoming election, said: "Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire's Tory candidate has serious questions to answer. "
She questioned who put the Nazi symbols there, adding: "There are candidates facing real and deeply troubling abuse — this needs clearing up now."
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In a full statement she said: “This whole affair is as sinister as it is baffling. It is clear that the images posted by Simon Hart have been further defaced since 2017, with Nazi insignia added.
“It raises a multitude of questions for the Tory high command and for the relevant authorities."
She called on Mr Hart to explain how they came to be there.
When pushed on the matter, Mr Hart, who has served as MP for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire since 2010, did not offer an explanation as to how the swastika signs ended up on the election board, or who might be responsible.
However, he did insist that he had nothing to do with the matter and suggested that legal action could be brought against anyone who implied otherwise.
Responding to the questions posed, Mr Hart said: "These allegations are demonstrably untrue.
"Any suggestion that I had anything to do with this is malicious, false and defamatory and lawyers have been instructed.”
Mr Hart is running for election in the Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire constituency along with Labour's Marc Tierney, the Liberal Democrats' Alistair Cameron, and Plaid Cymru's Dr Rhys Thomas.
