An ‘Independent’ councillor who was elected to Bath & North East Somerset Council earlier this month to represent the Saltford ward has not joined the existing group of six Independent councillors.

Chris Warren (second from left) with supporters and Nathan Hartley (right) | Photo © John Wimperis
In the list of members by their groups on the council’s website, Councillor Chris Warren sits alone in an ‘Unaligned’ category.
Mr Warren had distanced himself from the controversial social media account @the_grieve which emerged during the campaign – but among those who have called that into question is the Mayor of Bath who stated that she does not want to share the chamber with someone with those views.
@the_grieve (The Ghost of Dominic Grieve) was set up on Twitter, which is now known as X, in 2019 . The account was taken down on Friday 17th January, the day after the by-election.
Several journalists and others had documented the content and investigative work is ongoing.
As we reported on Friday 10th January, the account included pictures of Mr Warren, his cars and his house. It contained many obscene and insulting posts including of a misogynistic, homophobic and racist nature.
There were disrespectful comments about public sector workers including those at B&NES Council. The Lib Dem administration at B&NES was described as “Commies”.
There were also posts praising far-right activist Tommy Robinson, Reform UK and the party’s leader Nigel Farage.
When interviewed by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) about the X account in the week before the election, Mr Warren, who is a former chair of Saltford Parish Council, said he had been “trolled”.
Mr Warren said he did not think people would “give a monkey’s either way” about the X account, adding: “If people don’t want to vote for me, they don’t want to vote for me if they think it’s associated with me. If they do, they do, if they don’t, they don’t.”
He won the seat just four votes ahead of the Lib Dem candidate Hossein Pirooz. The by-election had been triggered by the resignation of Lib Dem councillor Alison Streatfeild-James, who had represented the ward since 2023, when she beat Mr Warren by 34 votes.
B&NES Council has not responded to several requests made by the Bath Echo and our sister publication The Week In since 17th January, asking whether it is investigating the concerns surrounding the account.
However, some councillors have spoken out. The Mayor of Bath Councillor Michelle O’ Doherty (Lib Dem, Newbridge), posted on X on Saturday 11th January: “He “denied” it while saying he found the account amusing. If it’s really not him, he’d be distancing himself.
“I find it hard to believe that someone would spend 5+ years impersonating him. I’ve no wish to share a council chamber with someone who is so openly misogynistic & racist.”
Councillor Warren now represents the Saltford ward alongside veteran Lib Dem councillor Duncan Hounsell who posted on Facebook the day after the election: “The enduring Nolan Principles for public life: Selflessness: Acting solely in terms of the public interest. Integrity: Avoiding financial or other obligations that might influence official duties. Objectivity: Making impartial decisions. Accountability: Being responsible for actions. Openness: Being transparent. Honesty: Being truthful. Leadership: Demonstrating leadership qualities.”
Councillor Hounsell explained in a comment on his post: “These principles for public life were introduced under John Major’s Government years ago following the Nolan Commission report. They remain the basis of modern codes of conduct.”
Lib Dem councillor Shaun Stephenson-McGall, who represents the Timsbury ward on B&NES Council, also took to X on 17th January to post a list of the “enduring Nolan Principles for public life” as a “quick reminder for colleagues elected to @Bathnes”.
Councillor Stephenson-McGall has also reposted recent analysis of the handwriting in a letter addressed to the RNLI, which @the_grieve put on X on 15th November 2022. The letter explained to the charity that it would not be getting a donation “as you have morphed into a Taxi Service for economic migrants, rapists, criminals and terrorists”.
Analysis of the writing by @BoneAshBath highlights imprints in several places that appear to reveal Mr Warren’s name and address.
Meanwhile a spoof account – called Councillor Chris Warren (allegedly) – has been created on X and has been putting up posts by @the_grieve, with added comments.
‘Campaign Strategist’ hails his latest victory
Nathan Hartley posted on X the day after the by-election: “As a Campaign Strategist, I’ve been running (& winning!) elections for #Independent candidates for the last decade! Pleased to add last night’s #Saltford #ByElection victory to the list.”
Mr Hartley added that he has a “winning formula” that will unseat a lot of Lib Dem councillors at the next election.
On Sunday 19th January he posted that the “big by-election win” for the Independents was the first time ever that the Lib Dems had lost a seat in a by-election in Bath & North East Somerset.
Nathan Hartley is a former B&NES councillor who represented Peasedown St John, initially as a Lib Dem including a stint as deputy council leader, and then as an Independent.
He had posted on social media of his support for Mr Warren to be elected as an Independent candidate at the by-election and his name appeared on the bottom of Mr Warren’s campaign literature as the designer.
However, when we contacted Mr Hartley in the days before the by-election regarding the controversial account, he told us that he was not Mr Warren’s campaign manager, or his agent.
Mr Hartley did not respond when we asked him whether there were concerns that someone was pretending to be Mr Warren and sabotage his campaign to become a councillor.
After winning the by-election, Chris Warren said: “It is very satisfying to win in my home village. I have lived here for 26 years. It was quite shocking to see the amount of resource which was thrown at this seat by the Liberal Democrats – so it made it even sweeter to win tonight.”