AN Evesham councillor has defended retweeting an Adolf Hitler joke.

Cllr Matt Snape, Conservative Wychavon District Councillor for Evesham South was criticised by a member of the public, who described it as "troubling behaviour from an elected representative."

In the retweet, from Twitter user @BasedTacitus who claims "whites are the oppressed now" in his Twitter biography, a picture of Adolf Hitler is provided with the caption "Have you experienced hate speech?" "Give us a call on nein nein nein."

Cllr Snape said in response: "I can see why someone would find that Hitler meme offensive because of the picture on it, but the message behind the meme is one that I support- free speech in this country is dying.

"The left have hijacked humour and I am deeply concerned about that.

"That is why I retweeted the meme because I am fed up of the left ruining humour, not because I ‘support Hitler.’

"And this complaint proves that free speech in this country is dying.

"The left are destroying debate on Twitter. I know the Twitter user myself. They are not remotely racist.

"They have been bullied and victimised by the left, and that should be the real story.

" That’s why they used the meme to capture their point that they are being shut down by lefty trolls.

"And I support the Twitter user in their cause to fight back against that, which is why I shared the tweet.

"Anyone who has studied history knows Hitler was the biggest proponent of destroying free speech.

"And I will not be afraid to speak out or be shut down by these nasty lefty trolls.

"If the left didn’t shut down debate on Twitter in the first place, memes like that Hitler one wouldn’t be necessary in the first place."

A member of the public who did not wish to be named added: "I noticed his (Cllr Snape's) account has retweeted 'funny' Hitler memes.

"It seems like troubling behaviour from an elected representative."

Margaret Rowley, leader of the opposition added: "I noticed that he had also retweeted a post from @Conservatives saying that they were building on their online presence "in a respectful way".

"If his more recent posts are his idea of respectful he needs to think again. They are shocking and he should apologise."

Cllr Snape has since protected his Tweets.

Sharon Stirling, chairman of the Mid-Worcestershire Conservative Association said: "This is a very serious matter and we need to review the information and discuss with Mr Snape. We will let you know the outcome when we have completed our enquiries."