The Community Security Trust (CST) has called for the Conservative Party to act over reports that MP Sir Desmond Swayne appeared on the antisemitic conspiracy theorist Richie Allen’s online show as a guest to cast doubt on the scale of the Covid-19 death toll.
Anti-racism organisation Hope not Hate reported on Thursday, that the Tory MP had appeared on The Richie Allen Show last November where he said that while coronavirus was a “serious disease” we needed to have a “sense of proportion”.
The MP added that the death rate at the time was “what you would expect in a bad flu season.”
On Wednesday, Sir Desmond was at the centre of a storm after it emerged he had urged anti-lockdown campaigners to persist with their fight against government restrictions and even claimed the NHS capacity figures were being “manipulated” to exaggerate the scale of the current pandemic.
Responding to the reports about his Richie Allen Show appearance, the CST said: “It is scandalous that any MP would appear on this notorious radio show that has supported Holocaust deniers, promoted conspiracies about British Jews and is closely connected to conspiracy theorist David Icke.
“The Conservative Party needs to deal with this as a matter of urgency.”
Board of Deptuties President Marie van der Zy added:: “We are deeply concerned that Conservative MP Desmond Swayne appeared on a show that hosts Holocaust deniers. This should be inexcusable in any major political party. We have raised our concerns with the Conservatives as a matter of urgency.”
Sir Desmond tweeted on Thursday :"I have never expressed antisemitic sentiment and if I'd ever given comfort to antisemites I'd be mortified. I do wonder what I'm going to be accused of next."
The JC first revealed how Manchester based presenter Richie Allen had frequently used tropes and invited guests who had openly made antisemitic remarks onto his.
He once hosted Alison Chabloz on his show calling her a “remarkable woman” despite her history of making openly antisemitism remarks.
The infamous Holocaust denier Nick Kolerstrom was also a regular on Richie Allen’s show, which used to be broadcast on conspiracy theorist David Icke’s website.
In February 2019, the JC revealed how Wavertree Labour Party official Alex Scott-Samuel had also appeared on the show on several occasions.
In October 2019, Sir Desmond, the MP for New Forest West, was at the centre of another storm when he refused to apologise after a photograph showing him “blacking up” was revealed to have been published on his website.
He did say he would not dress up as singer James Brown again - adding the “reason I wouldn’t do it again is because you have to go to some trouble to get it off. It’s not a non-trivial exercise.”
A Tory spokesperson said:"Desmond Swayne has explained that he was not aware of the history of this show and would never have appeared on it had he been."
