Conservatives refusing to suspend Hastings candidate accused of Islamophobia, homophobia, antisemitism and prejudice towards disabled people

Naz Shah, Labour’s Shadow Women and Equalities Minister, commenting on the Conservatives refusing to suspend their Hastings candidate accused of Islamophobia, homophobia and antisemitism, 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. 

“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."

Ends

Notes to editors:

The Conservatives have confirmed they are opening a second investigation into Sally-Ann Hart, the Conservatives’ candidate in Hastings and Rye into islamophobia and homophobia, in addition to the investigation into antisemitism that they announced over the weekend. 

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/11/tories-open-second-investigation-sally-ann-hart-hastings-candidate

The Conservatives already confirmed that Hart is under investigation after it was revealed that se posted a video about the EU called “the real face of the European Union” with George Soros' image promoting an antisemitic conspiracy theory about George Soros and that she 'liked' a Nazi slogan posted beneath it being used in relation to George Soros, a Jewish man and a Holocaust survivor.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/07/tories-investigate-three-candidates-over-alleged-antisemitism

Hart said in a hustings debate last Thursday night that “people with learning difficulties don’t understand about money” and can therefore be paid less than minimum wage. Disability charity Scope has condemned her comments, saying “These opinions are outdated, inexcusable, and should be consigned to history.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.” 

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/fury-tory-says-people-learning-21037443

It was then revealed Hart has attacked multiculturalism, blaming it for terrorism, has attacked "Islamist fellow travellers" and "feminist lunatics" and shared an article saying that outrage over Grenfell is a left wing "fake news bonanza".  

https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/conservative-candidate-hastings-multiculturalism

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/fury-tory-says-people-learning-21037443

Now it’s been revealed that in January 2017 - shortly before being selected to stand against Laura Pidcock in Durham NW - Hart publicly shared a post on Facebook entitled: “Women’s March Towards Islam?” http://www.cheriberens.net/womenrsquos-march-towards-islam.html and described it as a "rather affecting read".

The article states:

“This ‘women’s march’ wasn’t about Trump. Trump is being used as a scapegoat for the Muslim agenda.”

"They want American women to have abortions. They want the non-Muslim population to be stagnant while their Muslim population grows. Numbers mean power.”

“They want a young male population that is weakened, or with confused female tendencies, whether real, imagined, or transgendered. They want to confuse the American Youth so they are helpless and unable to fight. They want to oppress the women and weaken the men. And the rest of America? They are controlling you via the media.”

The site's author has spread the far-right conspiracy theory Taqiyya http://www.cheriberens.net/why-i-donrsquot-debate-muslims-and-what-i-do-instead.htmlwhich Melanie Phillips was recently criticised for propagating https://twitter.com/miqdaad/status/1201782485400641538

Other articles on the site include:

●        Why extreme vetting is important: even the children are dangerous http://www.cheriberens.net/why-extreme-vetting-is-important-even-the-children-are-dangerous.html

●        Ilhan Omar: Muslims are to begin enforcing their superiority over non-Muslims http://www.cheriberens.net/ilhan-omar-muslims-are-to-begin-enforcing-their-superiority-over-non- muslims.html

●        Stats about Muslims you should know (which claims “80% of London’s Muslims support ISIS) http://www.cheriberens.net/stats-about-muslims-you-should-know.html