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Calls for Barnsley Reform councillor to resign over apparent swastika tattoo
(www.theguardian.com)
Why would he resign, that's the Reform platform.
this post was submitted on 27 May 2026
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In response to the accusations, Theresa Arnold told the Sheffield Star that the tattoo had been “misunderstood” and was connected to her husband’s brief interest in Buddhism when he was younger.
“In his late teens, my husband briefly explored Buddhism and had a symbol tattooed on his arm during that period,” she said.
There are zero people in this country that would get a Buddhist swastika-like symbol tattooed on them without fully understanding your average person is going to see it as just a swastika.
Given that, to then go ahead with it means you're okay with people thinking you've got a swastika on you
Especially when getting a tattoo after such a "brief [...] period"
Edit: typo
Well, that's great - he'll be able to tell us all about Buddhism in his next radio/TV interview, won't he?
Anyone got said images? Seems like that was the least the article could have done rather than provide a story without any visual evidence.
I'm not defending Reform. Make no mistake. Either way it was incredibly dumb of him to have even the religious swastika tattooed on him. I just lament this low quality "journalism".
If you search for "Andy Arnold Swastika" you'll find them - other newspapers have included the images.
Basically, yes he does unambiguously have a very basic small swastika on his forearm, above what looks like some redacted text (inked over with a solid box). From the colour of the ink, both the swastika and the redaction look to be decades old. He also has other old tattoos visible - an elaborate cross and a tribal design on his upper arms.
Hang on, he got text redacted but not the swastika? That raises even more questions, like how bad must the text have been if blocking it out was more important than blocking out an actual swastika, and he cannot have regretted getting a swastika in the first place if he left it
You know, there's actually a possibility the text isn't redacted, just really really unclear.
I wanted to provide a screenshot, but when I found a better image, I'm kind of seeing potential letter shapes. Let me know what you think (I've cropped some of the legs off the swastika).
You can make out three letters (looks like CTY or similar to me) with something like a George cross or some eyes over it if it isnt covered up? If it is covered up its badly done as it should be fully blacked out.
Kind of looks like ICY to me. Could mean "I see you"?
If we accept its three letters that have been altered, could it terrifyingly be C18? That would be extra specially concerning and definitely a reason to cover up with priority over the Swastika.