An Isle of Wight Conservative Party candidate has withdrawn from the upcoming local elections, after he was accused of making misogynistic tweets against two female MPs.
Stuart Brown insists he is not a misogynist.
He was planning stand for Ryde West at the elections on May 6, but has since deleted his social media accounts and stood down.
Although he said his words were 'misconstrued', he said he does not want it to be an 'unnecessary distraction'.
On Twitter, he told Zarah Sultana, Labour MP for Coventry, 'You really are vile'.
In June last year, he also said tweeted Labour's Dawn Butler, MP Brent South, saying 'Vile women'.
In a statement, Stuart Brown said:
"Following a period of reflection I have decided that I no longer wish to stand for election to the Isle of Wight Council as the Conservative candidate for Ryde West.
“The Conservative Party on the island is doing a great deal of good work and has a host of excellent candidates for the upcoming election, including some exciting young men and women and I do not want this to become an unnecessary distraction for them or to detract from that excellent work.
“I expressed a view on some opposition MP’s statements that I found to be highly incendiary but In hindsight accept that my words may have been construed in a similar incendiary way or worse misconstrued as something which they were not intended to be."
He added:
“I do not consider myself to be a Misogynist in any way and take offence at the notion that I am.
“I do however apologise if that is how it has been interpreted. When someone took the time to look through my tweets they seem to have been selective in what they decided to share with you and missed several that show nothing but support and admiration for women both in politics and the wider working world including a recent tweet celebrating international women’s day.
“I will now look to devote my time to helping my community in other ways.”
It's understood a new Conservative Party candidate will now be selected for Ryde West.
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