Fury after Tory local election candidate claims people with Down Syndrome are not equal

A Conservative local election candidate has sparked anger after openly questioning a demand by a former senior minister for equality for people with Downs Syndrome.

Shloime Royde, the party’s candidate in the London borough of Haringey’s South Tottenham ward, had taken issue with a social media post by David Davis MP, the former Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, after he honoured World Downs Syndrome Day.

The senior Tory parliamentarian wrote on April 23rd: “All efforts to achieve full equality and respect for people with Down Syndrome have my full support.”

Get The Jewish News Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up

But Royde responded by posting:”What exactly is ‘equality for people with Downs Syndrome?

“They are undoubtably mentally impaired and cannot be considered on equal footing as the rest of society.”

Lord John Mann, the government’s antisemitism advisor, also reacted furiously to the remarks, tweeting: ”This candidate needs removing and expelling immediately.”

Jewish News was alerted to the council candidate’s post by a member of the Jewish community whose own family have experience of coping with a Down Syndrome child and who said they were left “appalled” by Royde’s comments.

Royde initially accused Jewish News of “trawling” his social media to find the comment. But when informed it had been shown to us by a family who had a child with Downs Syndrome, he deleted the post last Saturday night.

He wrote on May 1st: “This tweet of mine has inadvertently caused a Twitter storm.

“As soon as it was pointed out to me, I deleted it so as not to offend anyone. I request anyone who was offended to accept my apologies and, if you wish, to discuss in private.”

Royde had earlier appeared at a Jewish community Haringey local election hustings event at Muswell Hill Synagogue.

At one stage, he turned to the Labour Leader of Haringey Council Peray Ahmet and said he had only one question to ask:”Is a woman a woman?.”

Jewish News contacted the Conservatives for comment on Royde’s Downs Syndrome post on Sunday.

MP Davis has also been contacted to give a response.