Labour suspends council candidate accused of Holocaust denial and anti-Semitism

A Labour council candidate accused of anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial has been suspended by the party and dropped for the forthcoming election. 

It was confirmed Roy Smart had been dropped from running for local office in St. James Ward, Tunbridge Wells in May, after it became apparent he had shared allegedly anti-Semitic material online. 

Articles shared by Roy Smart included a Holocaust denial post in 2015, which lists countries where questioning the Shoah is illegal, before saying “the truth doesn’t need laws to protect it.”

In the text of the article, called ‘Holocaust deprogramming course”, it says “free yourself from a lifetime of Holo-brainwashing about ‘six million’ Jews ‘gassed’ in ‘gas chambers’ disguised as shower rooms”.

Other posts picture Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu holding Donald Trump on a lead, surrounded by dead bodies in Gaza, with Auschwitz’s ‘Arbeit Mach Frei’ sign in the background. 

Smart also shared articles tackling about “Rothschilds Jewish mafia agents” planning the 9/11 attacks, Jewish Money running the UK government, and the Israeli lobby paying for the media to write that Muslims are terrorists. 

The party said Smart would no longer be up for election in  St. James Ward, Tunbridge Wells, and added that “Labour takes all complaints of anti-Semitism extremely seriously, which are fully investigated and appropriate disciplinary action taken in line with our rules and procedures.

“Anti-Semitism has absolutely no place in the Party, and we are committed to challenging and campaigning against it all its forms.”

The party said Smart would no longer be up for election in and added that “Labour takes all complaints of anti-Semitism extremely seriously, which are fully investigated and appropriate disciplinary action taken in line with our rules and procedures.

“Anti-Semitism has absolutely no place in the Party, and we are committed to challenging and campaigning against it all its forms.”

This comes after the resignation of Christine Shawcroft as both Labour’s disputes chairwoman and from the party’s governing body, over the anti-Semitism row in the party.

Shawcroft had already quit as chairwoman of the party’s disputes panel after it emerged she had opposed the suspension of council candidate Alan Bull, also accused of Holocaust denial.

Following her resignation as disputes chair, many MPs were furious after she claimed in a Facebook posting that the row was being “stirred up to attack Jeremy, as we all know”.