Nina Westad was the Conservative Party’s mayoral candidate in Trondheim, until private messages emerged in which she expressed support for Trump. That is where today’s Conservative Party draws the line. Not only was a campaign launched against her locally, on Wednesday evening the party’s national leadership intervened and said that she held values that were incompatible with representing the Conservative Party.
– I have noted that my selection as mayoral candidate has prompted negative reactions among some members of the Trondheim Conservative Party and the central party organisation, she writes, according to Adresseavisen.
– That this should happen in my party, which I joined when I was 15 years old, is something I never dreamed would happen. Despite the fact that I was elected at the nomination meeting in a functioning membership democracy, certain forces within the party have not accepted this, she continues.
But someone leaked her private messages, and one in particular lent itself to tabloid headlines.
“I hope Trump manages to create a beach resort in Gaza. Then I’ll go there and sunbathe.”
Westad says it has been taken completely out of context.
– What was communicated in a private one-to-one conversation between friends – between a good party colleague, Karl Erik Haug, and me – and which was never intended for anyone else, and where over a long period we exchanged views on many matters in an informal and mutually challenging and perhaps at times somewhat questioning/provocative tone, has nothing to do with the policies I intend to pursue or how I intend to perform the role of mayor, she said when Adressa confronted her with the statements.
It did not help. On Wednesday, the axe fell.
The Conservative Party’s national leadership asked her to withdraw on Wednesday evening. Secretary-General Tom Erlend Skaug confirms this.
– These statements represent a clear breach of the Conservative Party’s values and the party’s ethical guidelines. Our guidelines make clear that such attitudes are incompatible with being an elected representative for the Conservative Party. This means that I believe Westad should withdraw as the Conservative Party’s mayoral candidate, he told Adressa.
Westad joked about the Palestinians and Trump. It was a double offence and too much. It did not help that the messages were private. Someone made sure they were leaked.
