A COUNCILLOR suspended by the Labour Party after he was accused of posting a Tweet which compared Conservative Party policy to the Holocaust has been reinstated.

Mark Cherry, who represents Banbury Calthorpe on Oxfordshire County Council, said his Twitter account had been hacked by another person. He told the BBC in May: “I was horrified when I saw it.”

Now after an investigation by the Labour Party’s national executive committee, Mr Cherry has had his suspension lifted.

Labour Party spokeswoman Danielle Glavin said: “There has been a thorough investigation by the national executive committee into the Tweets from Mark Cherry’s accounts.

“Following the investigation Mr Cherry’s suspension has been lifted.”

The incident in May resulted in a number of complaints and prompted Banbury MP Sir Tony Baldry to write to Labour leader Ed Miliband.

On May 22 he published the open letter which said: “I would hope that the Labour Party nationally, given that everyone is agreed that this Tweet was grossly offensive, will carry out a proper investigation and at least ask some fairly rudimentary, common sense questions.” The incident had been reported to Thames Valley Police, he claimed.

A Labour colleague, Cllr Susanna Pressel of Jericho and Osney ward, said she welcomed his return.

She said: “It is good to have him back and I am sure it is the right decision.

“There was a lot of mischief-making from other parties at the time it happened, but in the Labour Party we were all sorry it had happened and tried to remain supportive.”

Mr Cherry was unavailable for comment

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