A Conservative council candidate has been suspended after he was exposed as running a Facebook group hosting a vote on whether Zionism was a “form of racism”.

The post by Redbridge Tory hopeful Kahlid Sharif attracted conspiracy theories including one describing “Zionists” as having “great powers”.

Another person in the Connecting Muslims in Redbridge Insha Allah group wrote: “They have made sure no one can say anything against them.

“You are antisemitic when you raise your voice against them, even when they go round killing babies in Palestine.”

Mr Sharif’s role in setting up the Facebook group was exposed by Tal Ofer, a former member of the Board of Deputies and an e-commerce expert.

Mr Sharif’s past Twitter activity shows he was a fervent supporter of Jeremy Corbyn before switching to the Conservatives.

A spokesperson for the Conservative party said:

“Khalid Sharif has been suspended pending the outcome of an investigation.”

The council candidate told his local newspaper he had quit Labour to join the Tories last year because he felt that sex education and the implementation of the Prevent programme were critical issues that were both being ignored by Sir Keir Starmer’s party.

Speaking to the Ilford Recorder, he said the “key difference” between the Conservative Party and Labour was that he was allowed to have a “differing view”. He said:

“If you are not able to discuss and issue, to debate it, where is the democracy in your party?”

He also described Mr Corbyn as “a breath of fresh air” for Labour.

He said: “That era has gone… you are going to see more and more Muslims move away from the Labour Party”.