“Reform UK Shock Victory: Councillor Arrested at Pride Event CLEARED After Six-Month Ordeal as Farage’s Party Claims Political Policing Exposed”
A Reform UK councillor handcuffed and arrested at an LGBTQ festival after she accused it of being ‘unsavoury and unsuitable for children’ has been cleared of wrongdoing following a six-month legal ordeal.
Self-proclaimed ‘radical feminist and mum’ Amanda Clare, 54, was charged with assault and criminal damage after she was seen taking pictures of trans performers dancing and singing in front of youngsters at Winsford Pride in Cheshire.
The former Labour councillor – who defected to Reform in March – had previously accused stallholders at the annual event of targeting children with ‘sexualised and ideological merchandise that promoted medical gender transition.’
She had also complained about a man dancing in a burlesque style at last year’s event wearing skimpy women’s knickers with a clown face over his crotch area and star-shaped nipple stickers that were removed during the performance.
In June this year Clare returned to the festival with her councillor husband and friends as part of what she called ‘a safeguarding check’ – only to be seized by police and led away.
Video showed her being handcuffed and detained as a reveller waved what appeared to be sex toy at her.
Clare later faced charges of assault on security guard Richard Welsh and criminal damage to his camera.
But just days before her trial was due to start the allegations against her have been quietly dropped at a court hearing which was brought forward without explanation.
Councillor Amanda Clare (right) with Reform UK leader MP Nigel Farage
She was arrested and charged with assault and criminal damage following a row at Winsford Pride in June
One of the drag artistes booked to perform at Winsford Pride in Cheshire
She later insisted she had been ‘persecuted’ by police and the Crown Prosecution Service and had merely been monitoring the event.
Clare also claimed the drag artiste had performed an inappropriate ‘rohypnol joke’ whilst on stage.
She had launched a ‘crowd justice’ fundraising campaigning to pay her legal fees, with well-wishers donating £3,563.
She subsequently hired top barrister Sarah Vine KC from the Doughty Street law chambers where Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is a member.
Today Clare – a member of Cheshire West and Chester Council – said: ‘I have been subjected to a full six months of anguish and reputational harm by the CPS at the behest of the police, who in turn acted at the behest of activists at this event.
‘Some police officers, including at the most senior level, are now political activists in plain sight, with the power to use our judicial system as a weapon against those deemed to have challenged gender ideology in any way.’
She added: ‘This unjust attempted persecution of myself as a local councillor has suppression of free speech in relation to child safeguarding at the heart of it.
‘If councillors can be mobbed, screamed at, assaulted and then prosecuted by the same police force who have stood by and seemingly supported this type of behaviour, democratic oversight of these types of events dies.
‘Pride events must not become no-go zones for elected representatives who care about child safeguarding.
Clare claimed she was carrying out a ‘safeguarding check’ on performers at Winsford Pride – only to be seized by police and led away
Amanda Clare (pictured with her husband) pleaded not guilty when she appeared at Chester Magistrates’ Court in August
‘Winning my case is paramount in protecting everyone who speaks up in future against child safeguarding failures.
‘We need our local councillors to feel willing and able to ensure adequate safeguarding and political neutrality within publicly funded organisations and events and to be able to speak up and defend ourselves, if and when when issues do arise.
‘It is really important, not just for justice in my own personal case, but for democracy to remain functional and for our children to remain safe.’
She added: ‘I attended this event not to protest against it, but within a legitimate safeguarding and policy-compliance role, as a local councillor, having managed to secure an acknowledgement by event organisers of previous mistakes having been made.
‘At last year’s Winsford Pride not only did one stall target sexualised and ideological merchandise that promoted medical “gender transition” directly at children, there was also a drag performance that involved a man dancing in a burlesque style, wearing skimpy women’s knickers with a clown face over the crotch area and star-shaped nipple stickers that were removed during the performance.
‘The act profusely apologised to the event organisers for this error of judgement after I repeatedly applied pressure for him not to be invited back, but he was re-booked for 2025 regardless, albeit with stricter guidelines in place.
‘So I was attending within my councillor capacity and for a very legitimate purpose, not to protest or cause a problem, and was hoping the 2025 event would be much improved, which some elements of it were.
‘But many children in attendance were subjected to a drag act’s rohypnol joke and a large sex toy being brandished, amongst other things.
Amanda Clare was handcuffed after being accused of remonstrating with staff at the LGBTQ festival over a drag artiste’s ‘gyrating’ stage show
Amanda Clare (centre) pictured campaigning with Reform UK MPs Lee Anderson and Sarah Pochin
‘These events have become unsavoury and unsuitable for children.’
The councillor claimed that she and her supporters were ‘singled out’ and ‘surrounded by approximately 40 aggressive activists’.
Saying she ‘strenuously’ denied any wrongdoing, Clare said her alleged actions had been subject to ‘malicious misrepresentation’ online.
Clare, of Tilston, Malpas, was a member of the Labour Party when first elected in 2019, but had left in 2022 to join the far-left Socialist Labour Party.
She was then a member of the Party of Women and the hyper-local Winsford Salt of the Earth Party, before settling as an independent in July 2024.
She defected to Reform UK in March but is currently suspended from her work in the office of Sarah Pochin, the Reform MP for Runcorn and Helsby.
Today Cheshire Police said: ‘The Crown Prosecution Service has a duty to keep all cases under continuing review and, following a further review, they concluded there was no longer sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction.
‘They have determined that the legal test for prosecution is no longer met and have discontinued the case.
‘Ms Clare has been informed of the decision, and the charges against her have been dropped.’
