Labour calls for suspension of Tory candidate in Hastings

Labour has called for the suspension of a Tory candidate who is already under investigation for homophobia and antisemitism after she shared an Islamophobic blog post.

Shadow minister for women and equalities Naz Shah has said the candidate for Hastings and Rye should be suspended following her apparent endorsement of an article claiming that Muslims are brainwashing young Americans.

According to The Guardian, the candidate described the blog by an anti-Islam activist as an “affecting read” on Facebook in 2017.

The article titled “Women’s March Towards Islam?” states: “This ‘women’s march’ wasn’t about Trump. Trump is being used as a scapegoat for the Muslim agenda.”

The blog post author wrote: “They want American women to have abortions. They want the non-Muslim population to be stagnant while their Muslim population grows. Numbers mean power.”

Commenting on the failure of the Tory party to act, Shah said: “The Conservatives are refusing to take action against a candidate who has peddled disgusting Islamophobia, homophobia and antisemitism, and has argued that disabled people should be paid less than the minimum wage. She has made no public apology.”

The Hastings and Rye candidate shared the post in January 2017, shortly before being selected by the Conservatives to run in Durham North West at the last general election.

Shah added: “No one who promotes this prejudice and spreads these vile far-right conspiracy theories is fit to be an MP. Boris Johnson has claimed that Conservative members who do this sort of thing are ‘out first bounce’. So it defies belief that Sally-Ann Hart was selected as a candidate in the first place, and it is shameful that Boris Johnson is now refusing to take action.”

Hart is already being investigated for sharing a video called “the real face of the European Union”, which promoted an antisemitic conspiracy about George Soros, and for ‘liking’ a Nazi slogan posted below it.

At a local hustings on December 5th, Sally-Ann Hart argued that “people with learning difficulties don’t understand about money” and could therefore be paid less than minimum wage.

Disability charity Scope condemned her comments, saying: “These opinions are outdated, inexcusable, and should be consigned to history. Disabled people should be paid equally for the work that they do.”

The candidate has also blamed terrorism on multiculturalism, attacked “Islamic fellow travellers” and “feminist lunatics”, and shared an article saying that the outrage over the Grenfell fire is a “fake news bonanza”.

Hart was selected by the Tories last month to defend the marginal seat after Amber Rudd stood down. She has been a Conservative councillor for Rother district council since 2015.