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Tories suspend candidate
Conservative chair Amanda Milling opens investigation into Warrington Conservatives over abuse directed at Labour MP Charlotte Nichols
February 10, 2021 16:52
Conservative chair Amanda Milling opens investigation into Warrington Conservatives over abuse directed at Labour MP Charlotte Nichols
February 10, 2021 16:52The Conservative Party has suspended a prospective councillor who tweeted, “Keep the Aryan race going”.
Sharon Thomason, who was due to contest a seat on Warrington Borough Council in May, posted the comment in an exchange with Warrington North’s Labour MP Charlotte Nichols in February last year.
When the tweet was reported she was suspended from the party, pending a full investigation.
Ms Thomason made the bizarre remark in response to the announcement that Prime Minister Boris Johnson and wife Carrie Symonds were expecting a child.
It subsequently emerged that she had made a range of other controversial comments on WhatsApp, and had tweeted last June calling for Enoch Powell, who delivered the controversial "rivers of blood" speech in 1968, to be honoured with a statue.
In a message to the Conservatives’ Warrington North campaign group, and reported by the Guardian, Ms Thomason wrote that Ms Nichols “lives a lie and tells lies too” and added in March 2020: “She’s very odd. I still think she’s got some chromosomal issue. Her eyes are just too far apart.”
In the same WhatsApp group, Wendy Maisey, local chair of the party, wrote that Ms Nichols’ religion was “all a con and actually … very racist on her part”. Ms Nichols converted to Judaism in 2014.
Ms Maisey also wrote that Ms Nichols “turned her back on Catholicism but will jump on anything for a vote” and suggested the MP would fake a disability to win votes: “Next thing will be she’s in the vulnerable category. We always said she’ll pull out a disability at an appropriate time to go with Jewish ginger lgbt.”
On Tuesday, Tory Party chair Amanda Milling wrote to the Labour MP to apologise for the “abhorrent views” and confirmed that Ms Thomason had been suspended.
Ms Milling also revealed that the party’s complaints team was “looking into allegations against Warrington Conservatives.”
The Jewish Labour Movement issued a statement condemning the “appalling antisemitic abuse” directed at Ms Nichols, who is a member of their organisation.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “The Conservative Party now appears to have learned lessons and has rapidly opened investigations into the conduct of councillors and candidates in Warrington and Hertsmere. We look forward to an efficient and transparent investigation.”