A leading politician has hit back after facing calls to resign amid criticism over “flaunting” his expensive Tesla car on social media.

Last week cabinet member for Bucks County Council's (BCC) failing children’s services, Warren Whyte, came under fire for creating a Twitter account dedicated to his expensive car.

The controversial councillor tweets pretending to be the vehicle under the handle @RedTesla75, and boasted he named the car Whiplash – “thanks to [its] epic acceleration”.

Cllr Whyte’s actions sparked debate among the public and politicians – with independent councillor for West Wycombe, Darren Hayday, taking to Twitter to brand the account “embarrassing” and urged his colleague to resign.

Labour councillor for Booker, Cressex and Castlefield, Majid Hussain, said Cllr Whyte’s actions are “disgraceful” and he should be investing the time he spends on Twitter into the struggling children’s services.

This year children’s services were rated “inadequate” for the second time by Ofsted, while a council report published in May said the services are at “tipping point” after busting its budget by £1.7 million in 2017/18.

Cllr Hussain said: “There are going to be cuts to children’s centres quite clearly, so I was amazed he is showing off his Tesla in this way.

“Really he should be dedicating this time to researching the children’s centres and how the county needs to deliver them.

“He is telling people their lifestyles are going to change with the cuts of the children’s centres, and he then goes and shows off his expensive lifestyle on social media.”

Cllr Whyte has also faced calls to apologise from Labour parliamentary candidate for Wycombe, Khalil Ahmed, who said the cabinet member should admit he “got it wrong”.

However despite facing criticism from council colleagues, Cllr Whyte branded the issue a “non-story” on Twitter and has continued to defiantly post from the Red Tesla account.

He posted: “Ohh I’m famous. In the local paper today and apparently I’m more important than Cllr Warren Whyte’s community bus scheme that he is trying to raise awareness of to recruit volunteer drivers. #Tesla.”

The councillor also apologised on the social media site for “only posting 66 times since May”, and assured his followers he would “up his game”.


When approached again by the Free Press Cllr Whyte said: “Of course everyone is entitled to their views, but this story has absolutely no bearing on my work as a councillor and cabinet member.

“I’m just one of millions of people with an interest in cars – from Trabants to Teslas.”

Environmentally-friendly Tesla – owned by controversial business mogul Elon Musk – specialises in electric vehicles which start at a price of £66,000.