A Tory candidate in a key battleground seat has quit the election race after being exposed for making lurid sexual comments about women.
Magistrate Sam Trask, expected to “respect the dignity of all” in his judicial role, once boasted his favoured bra size measuring technique was “hand sizing them by feel”. In the unearthed graphic online post, he added: “Maybe have to make a more detailed inspection with my lips and tongue... for accuracy, of course.”
But after being confronted by the Mirror, married father-of-two Trask apologised for the “wholly inappropriate” comments and said he had “decided to withdraw as a candidate”. In another comment, the primary school governor who brags about his charity work, asked: “if a woman with big boobs seems to idly rub them against you, is she flirting or are they really just getting in the way?”
And in a discussion about chat-up lines, Trask crudely suggested: “Hey there, wanna come to my place and watch porn on my 50 inch flat screen mirror?” Trask – who has met PM Rishi Sunak and spoken at Tory conference – was picked as the Conservative candidate in Bridgend, Wales, where the party has a slim majority.
The constituency has been represented by Jamie Wallis, found guilty in 2022 of failing to stop and report an accident after crashing his car the year before. Aircraft engineer Trask, 40, is a Welsh Conservatives councillor in Rhondda, south Wales, where he serves as Tory group leader at the council. He was appointed a Justice of the peace in February 2016, according to his declaration of interests.
His personal website painted himself as a charitable family man who as a magistrate sends “dangerous offenders to prison” as well as “helping children when things aren't right at home”. But unearthed posts reveal another side to his character which contrasts with the guide to judicial conduct which says office holders “should respect the dignity of all”.
If further states: “Because judicial office necessarily attracts public scrutiny, judicial office holders are subject to constraints on their private lives which might not apply to others. Whilst they are, of course, entitled to a private life, they should not act in a way, even in their private or family life, which could reduce respect for judicial office or cast doubt on their independence, impartiality or integrity. They should avoid situations in which risks of this kind are likely to arise.”
Only years before he became a magistrate and then councillor, Trask – who is also a fitness instructor – was making lurid posts on the myfitnesspal online forum. Under the name “Aerosam” – an account which carried a picture of Trask giving thumbs up – he wrote in a thread entitled “no one understands bra sizes” in September 2013: “I think I'll stick to my method of hand sizing them by feel.
“Maybe have to make a more detailed inspection with my lips and tongue... for accuracy, of course.” He added a smiling emoji. That year, in July, he made another lurid comment in a thread in which users answered and asked questions.
In response to a question about the right age to get married, he wrote: “25, cos that's the age I got married, as I wanted kids before I was thirty to be young enough to have loads of fun with them as they grow up. I am now thirty and have 2 beautiful daughters! Next poster: if a woman with big boobs seems to idly rub them against you, is she flirting or are they really just getting in the way?”
In the same month in a discussion about “Pick up lines”, he wrote: “Hey there, wanna come to my place and watch porn on my 50 inch flat screen mirror?” Meanwhile, in a discussion about “Panties” in October 2013, he wrote, adding a smiling emoji: “Love tight shorts on my wife, she's got an awesome *kitten*”
In an October 2013 post in a thread entitled “Pass, Bang, Hug, Spank, Dance, or Date”, he wrote in response to another user called Sarah: “Dance, spank, bang, hug, repeat” And in a thread about the “Selfish Reason” why people get fit, he cruelly wrote in July 2013: “Because it pisses my wife off, that I'm starting to look good, and she cant stick at anything long enough to get results.”
Jonathan Ashworth, Labour ’s Shadow Paymaster General, said: “These lurid revelations pose serious questions about the calibre of candidates the Tories have been forced to select. With the deadline for nominations approaching, Rishi Sunak still has time to do the right thing and re-vet his candidates to make sure they are fit to serve the public in Parliament. This is yet more chaos with the Conservatives.”
In a tweet in November, Trask said of his judicial role: “As a family court magistrate I can tell you we NEVER take either parents side, we NEVER take social services [sic] side. We ALWAYS take the childs [sic] side. End of.”
Trask said on his website: “I'm born and raised in South Wales and have lived here my whole life, now together with my wife of over 16 years, we are raising our 2 daughters here as well. I'm a true blue collar worker, after leaving school at 16 I completed an engineering apprenticeship and for the past 24 years I've repaired, built and tested the jet engines that fly people and goods all over the world.
"I was part of the team that test ran the final ever Concorde engine! If you've flown anywhere in the world in the last quarter century, chances are you've been kept safely in the sky by engines I've worked on. I'm also a magistrate in criminal and family law, sending dangerous offenders to prison and helping children when things aren't right at home.
“I am engaged in charity work in one of the poorest areas of Uganda, visiting and helping people in slum areas in Mbale and educating children in local schools here in South Wales about the challenges their Ugandan friends in their linked schools face daily, and raising funds and gathering donations here in Wales of things Ugandan school children desperately need.
“I also work part time as a fitness instructor - I love inspiring people to be better versions of themselves through hard work and determination! I've seen many people transform their lives through the power of exercise and I'm always glad to lend a hand, giving any guidance or encouragement people need to be the fit and healthy person they want to be. First elected in 2017, I'm the Conservative leader on neighbouring RCT Council - fighting hard to deliver for the people I represent.”
Trask said: “These comments were made a number of years ago, and I recognise they are wholly inappropriate. For that I apologise and have decided to withdraw as a candidate.”