A former mayor who said travellers “screw everything up” has been compared to the British National Party leader – by his own ward colleague.

Cllr David Carr’s political career hangs in the balance after he was suspended as cabinet member for community safety, where roles include allocating traveller sites, the day his remarks were published in the Medway Messenger.

In a storm of reaction many readers agreed with him. But his political colleagues did not.

Labour condemned the remarks, as did council leader Rodney Chambers. He is still deciding on Cllr Carr’s future and running the community safety brief in his absence. A decision is expected within days.

Cllr Carr’s Rainham North ward colleague Cllr Vaughan Hewett (Con), who has just stood down as mayor of Medway himself, said: “His comments are more akin to Nick Griffin and the BNP.

"I’m told that he’s my ward colleague which I find quite distasteful. It's like if someone's done something wrong in your family.

"That's his bed and he's got to lie in it. He's not apologised and Conservative policy is clear.”

He added: “I’ve worn the mayor’s badge for a year, and on it, it has the motto “forward together”. How on earth can you come out with a radical statement like that as a former mayor?”

Cllr Chambers must decide whether to retain Cllr Carr as a cabinet member, while the Gillingham and Rainham Conservative Association has the power to force him to sit as an independent.

Rochester and Strood Conservative Association chairman Cllr Andrew Mackness (Con) said: “Certainly if it was my association I imagine we would take a very dim view.”

The chairman of the Gillingham and Rainham Conservative Association, to which the 74-year-old belongs, is considering his options.

John Amey said: “We’re aware of what’s been reported and we’re concerned about it, and we’re considering what if anything we should do.”

Cllr Adrian Gulvin (Con), chairman of the Chatham and Aylesford Conservative Association, added: “Speaking personally, it was a very unfortunate thing to say.

“We’ve all got to live together cheek by jowl and we can’t take our absolutely splendid inter-community relations for granted.”

Readers flocked to our website to support Cllr Carr.

One, Tom G, wrote: “Cllr Carr is just saying what most of us are thinking. Shame to get suspended for speaking your mind.”

Another, Sookie, wrote: “He is a councillor who represents his people, unlike the idiots who suspended him.”

The Gypsy Council plans to meet officers at Medway Police Station to make a formal complaint, possibly one of inciting racial hatred.

Chairman Joseph Jones, from Sheppey, hit out at the web comments supporting Cllr Carr.

He said: “They’re talking about 0.1% of the population, people along the roadside with nowhere to live who are being constantly moved on.”

Councillor had long career as an engineer

Cllr Carr made the comments in his first interview as a cabinet member. He said: “Why don’t [travellers] learn to live like everybody else does?... They crap all over the place, they p*ss over the field, they throw rubbish all over the place.”

A former Chatham Technical School pupil (now Chatham Grammar for Boys), Cllr Carr was elected in 2007 after a long career as an engineer.

“We’ve all got to live together cheek by jowl and we can’t take community relations for granted”

He worked at Chatham Dockyard, Marconi Electronic Systems in Rochester (now BAE Systems) and oversaw the construction of Grain Power Station.

His community safety brief included CCTV, trading standards, community officers, licensing and food hygiene inspections.

In the interview he revealed he was once fined by the council’s CCTV car - but that hadn’t stopped him believing in it.

“It’s always the same,” he said. “People say ‘I’m only going in for two minutes’, they go in for 35 and they’re surprised to find a yellow sticker.”

He also agrees with enforcement at Chatham’s bus station.