Chris Snow #

Introduction #

Chris Snow is a Labour councillor who represents the Chorley Central division on Lancashire County Council. In February 2026 he was suspended from the Labour group at County Hall after sharing a “highly inappropriate” post on his personal social media account — an image, as reported by Blog Preston, depicting the former Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher alongside Jimmy Savile. Snow took the post down shortly after sharing it and apologised, but the party removed the whip from him pending an investigation, meaning that for now he sits as an independent councillor rather than with the Labour group. The suspension was reported by the Preston-based outlet Blog Preston on 15 February 2026 and covered by the BBC two days later.

Background Information #

Public information about Snow is thin, and neither report of his suspension offers much in the way of biography. What the coverage establishes is his representative position: he is a county councillor for Chorley Central at Lancashire County Council, where he sat with the Labour group led by Councillor Mark Clifford. It was Clifford who supplied the ethical framework in which the party framed its response, saying: “In the Labour Party we take standards in public life very seriously and abide by the seven Nolan principles of selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership.” Those seven Nolan principles — the standards of conduct Clifford said the party abides by in public life — formed the stated backdrop to the group’s decision to act against one of its own.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation #

The episode traced to the very start of the year. On 1 January 2026, Snow shared a post on his personal social media account which, according to Blog Preston, depicted Margaret Thatcher with Jimmy Savile. His group leader’s verdict on the material was blunt: Clifford described it as “highly inappropriate”. Whatever the post’s intent, Snow did not defend it — he removed it shortly after posting it and, per Blog Preston, apologised before the whip was removed and an investigation was launched. The BBC, covering the suspension on 17 February 2026, did not describe what the post showed, noting that details of it had “not been revealed”; it is Blog Preston’s reporting that supplies the description of the image as depicting Thatcher with Savile. Neither outlet published the post itself, and no public claim has been made about why Snow shared it; what is on the record is the image’s content, his leader’s characterisation of it, and Snow’s own decision to take it down and unreservedly apologise.

Public Reaction and Consequences #

The reaction that carried consequences came from within the Labour group itself. Clifford said: “CC Chris Snow shared a highly inappropriate post on social media and whilst he took it down shortly after posting it and unreservedly apologised. The Labour Party took immediate action and suspended the whip from him pending an investigation.” He added: “We hold our Councillors to the highest standards and will always take appropriate action where needed.” The action he described was concrete: the whip was withdrawn and an investigation launched, with Blog Preston noting that Snow’s apology had come before both. For Snow the immediate consequence was the loss of his place in the Labour group at County Hall — from the moment of suspension, he sits as an independent until the investigation is concluded. The story also travelled beyond the local press: the BBC’s report two days after Blog Preston’s put a county-level disciplinary matter in front of a national audience, with the corporation quoting Clifford’s line that the group “will always take appropriate action where needed”.

Current Status #

As of the most recent reporting, in mid-February 2026, Snow’s suspension stands and the investigation into the post remains pending. He had the whip removed pending that investigation and, in the interim, sits as an independent councillor for Chorley Central — no longer part of the Labour group, but not removed from the council itself. Neither Blog Preston nor the BBC reported any findings, any further sanction, or any resignation; equally, neither reported that the whip had been restored. The BBC’s account, published on 17 February 2026, matched Blog Preston’s on the essentials — the suspension, the apology, and the removal of the post — while adding nothing about the investigation’s progress. Until it concludes, the record ends where the reporting does: a councillor stripped of the whip and sitting as an independent, awaiting the outcome of a party process that has not been made public.

Impact on Their Career/Life #

The impact on Snow’s political standing was immediate and structural. A councillor elected under the Labour banner now operates outside the Labour group at County Hall, stripped of the whip over a single social media post — one he shared and deleted shortly after posting, and for which he apologised, but whose content his own leader publicly labelled “highly inappropriate”. Whatever the investigation concludes, the episode has attached his name to an image pairing Margaret Thatcher with Jimmy Savile, as described in Blog Preston’s report, and to the first-party discipline that followed it. The case sits within a recurring pattern in British local politics, in which councillors’ personal social media activity has triggered suspension and the loss of the whip. For Snow personally, the stakes are his own: his group membership, his political identity at County Hall, and his future in the party all hinge on the conclusion of an investigation that, as of the last reporting, had not produced a finding. His apology was acknowledged in full by both outlets; his motive for sharing the post was not explained in either account.