Online conspiracy theories put Tory candidates in spotlight
The Conservatives have suspended one candidate and are investigating several more over “conspiratorial” and “nasty” social media activity.
The party has fielded candidates in 98 per cent of wards for the May local elections, but a number are having their nominations reviewed over their online activity. Subjects of posts included anti-Israel conspiracy theories, support for the far right and a call for Jeremy Clarkson to be “stoned to death”.
David Bull, the chairman of Reform UK, called on the Conservatives to “condemn these racist, violent and conspiratorial candidates immediately”. He said: “It beggars belief that the Tories thought these people met the high standards that voters rightly expect of their would-be elected officials.”
Ishfaq Hussain, the former Conservative candidate for Dogsthorpe in Peterborough, has had his membership suspended over his comments. Hussain was briefly suspended in 2021 over social media posts including “the Jews in Israel are not true Jews” and the claim that the “Zionist trilogy” of Israel, Saudi Arabia and the US “breed terrorists”.
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His language was branded “abhorrent and antisemitic” by the Jewish Leadership Council, but Hussain apologised and was readmitted to the party. However, last October, on the day of the Manchester synagogue attack, he called Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, “the hate monger who is making the far right emboldened to do such heinous crimes”. Jihad al-Shamie, the attacker shot dead by armed police, had no connection to Reform.
More recently, Hussain called India a “rubbish tip” in a reply to an anti-immigration comment from someone with the Indian flag as their profile picture.
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The party is also investigating several other candidates. Ahmed Omar Sheikh Faqai, standing for the Conservatives for the third time in Canning Town South, Newham, reposted a video in March that claimed Israel was planning a false flag attack on the US “in the style of 9/11” in order to “justify the ground invasion” of Iran.
In February, Faqai shared a message in Arabic advising “Muslims in Sweden whose children were abducted by government or private institutions after Sweden’s name appeared in the scandals of the Epstein Island leaks” to “file lawsuits in the courts to find out the fate of their children”.
A conspiracy theory accusing the Swedish authorities of abducting Muslim children gained popularity online in late 2021. Ulf Kristersson, the prime minister, said misinformation about child protective services was “creating threats both against Sweden and against individual social workers”.
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Faqai has also reposted content from both political fringes, including Tommy Robinson, the right-wing activist banned from joining Reform over his extreme views, and George Galloway, the former Labour MP who founded the anti-Israel and socialist Workers Party of Britain.
Another London Tory, Kono Votu Kono-Ugen, standing in Bounds Green in Haringey, has repeatedly commented on divisive racial issues. In 2020, he referred to non-white people as “ethnically disadvantaged races” and called white privilege a “farce”.
Later that year, Kono-Ugen also called a woman caught on video heckling Black Lives Matter protesters “a let down to the white race”. “Can her husband call her to order. She is certainly not a true rep of the white race,” he posted. “Whites in the real sense live off black people.”
Chika Nwokorie, standing in Barking and Dagenham, called for The Sunday Times columnist Jeremy Clarkson to be “stoned to death” after he apologised for a piece which described the Duchess of Sussex being led naked through the street. Posting on X, Nwokorie replied to Clarkson: “It is your ugly mother that will [be] laid naked. Hoples [sic] shapeless, racist ugly man like [you] will be stoned to death.”
Anna Turley, the chair of the Labour Party, called on Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, to disavow the candidates. “These abhorrent remarks and actions from Tory candidates are shocking and show the Conservatives are still the same old ‘nasty party’,” she said. “People with these views and histories should be nowhere near our politics.”
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Other Conservative candidates have been selected despite previous public embarrassment.
Andy Coles, who is standing in Peterborough alongside Hussain, is a former undercover police officer who had a complaint upheld against him over allegations of deceiving a 19-year-old woman into a long-term sexual relationship during his infiltration of an animal rights group in the 1990s.
Coles resigned as Cambridge’s deputy police and crime commissioner in 2017 when the allegations came to light. Three years later, Scotland Yard ruled in favour of the complainant, who said she was “groomed and manipulated” by a Coles, who was 32 at the time of the relationship, which he denies.
The investigation concluded that he would have faced a disciplinary hearing on gross misconduct if he had not already retired from the Metropolitan Police in 2013. The victim, known only as “Jessica”, called for Coles to resign from the council at the time.
Gul Nawaz, a third Peterborough candidate, was jailed for two months in 2002 for falsely claiming £3,000 in housing benefit. He served half of his sentence. Nawaz previously told the Peterborough Telegraph: “I don’t think it’s an issue because whatever happened, that was last century. I have been elected as a councillor five times and as deputy mayor. I can’t see any problems.”
All named candidates were approached for comment.
A Conservative Party spokesperson said: “We are investigating these accusations. Ishfaq Hussain has been suspended from the party and several other candidates have had support for their campaigns withdrawn.”