Throughout the recent local election period, we have been scrutinising the records of candidates from numerous parties and none. Just in the past week, we have drawn attention to candidates from the Conservatives, Reform UK, Plaid Cymru, Aspire and several independents, in addition to candidates from the Liberal Democrats and Labour whom we have highlighted in the recent past.
But it is the Green Party which presented the electorate more problematic candidates than any other. In at least one case, our expose resulted in an investigation, which is ongoing. In some other cases, the Party took action, for example it suspended Mark Adderley, the conspiracist husband of Loose Women star Nadia Sawalha. She suggested that “dark forces” were at play in his suspension, we told the media that perhaps she is a bit too loose-tongued for Loose Women, and she has been taken off the air for at least two weeks.
But in far too many cases, the Green Party has failed or refused to act, or acted too late, with candidates remaining on the ballot.
Indeed, a number of the concerning Green Party candidates whom we flagged have been elected.
These include Mr Adderley, but also Saiqa Ali, whose online rhetoric (for which she has apologised) was so egregious that she has been arrested, and the Green Party have reportedly suspended her.
Ifhat Shaheen was also elected for Stoke Newington, in Hackney. After the recent arson attack on Jewish ambulances in Golders Green, Ms Shaheen reposted a message saying: “since Golders Green is now in the news, I want to take the opportunity to make people aware that the Jewish community in North London host IDF soldiers in their synagogues and raise funds for the IDF during a ‘family fun day’.”
Hau Yu Tam, who reportedly shared a post that appeared to call Zionism “the Nazism of our time”, was elected in the Deptford ward of Lewisham.
Chandni Chopra has been elected for the Heaton ward in Newcastle. Her alleged social media output includes a recent Instagram story post incorporating the caption “Today I proudly chanted ‘Death, death to the IDF’ before I was about to take off on a march”, and appearing to describe Members of Parliament as “batting for their Israeli masters.”
In Birmingham, Atikur Rahman was elected in the Tyseley and Hay Mills ward. He is also a civil servant and is reportedly under investigation by the Home Office. Kamel Hawwash was elected for the Greens in Stirchley. A retired professor of civil engineering at Birmingham University, some of his concerning social media output is from the period while he was still teaching.
Rebecca Jones, an NHS doctor, was elected in Blackheath, South East London. A post from her Instagram account from 2024 reportedly read: “Burn Zionism to the ground”.
Other concerning Greens have also been elected, such as Mohammed Suleman in Arthur’s Hill, Newcastle. Mr Suleman was suspended by the Party ahead of the election. His social media history allegedly includes conspiracies about recent attacks as Israeli “false flags”, and posting what appear to be incendiary graphics referring to the Jewish state.
Further north, in Holyrood, Scotland, Dr Q Manivannan has been elected for the Greens. Their social media history is equally concerning, which includes allegedly bragging about unfollowing the Auschwitz Museum’s X account by appearing to respond to the Museum’s post urging for more support with “Just unfollowed you.” It is also alleged that in October 2023, Dr Manivannan commented on X the act of defacing posters of Jews and Israelis taken hostage by Hamas as “solidarity towards an occupied people”.
Over in Reform UK, Ben Rowe has been elected for Plymouth City Council. We flagged how this candidate was under investigation for allegedly posting antisemitic and anti-Muslim content on social media.
Another concerning candidate, Jay Leslie Cooper, has also won his seat in the Bottle West ward of Sefton council, in Merseyside. He is said to have posted the following deeply concerning rhetoric about Adolf Hitler from his Facebook account: “I don’t agree with him murdering innocent people. But the Hallocaust [sic] is a hoax. There wasn’t [sic] even 6 million Jews in Europe at the time. Propaganda.” It is reported that he has resigned the party whip and has had his ReformUK membership revoked.
Another successful Reform UK candidate, Stuart Prior, who won his seat on Essex county council and Rochford district council, has reportedly resigned and has had his party membership revoked in relation to concerning social media posts. Mr Prior had allegedly praised the Nazis as “real visionaries”, alongside deeply offensive anti-Muslim rhetoric.
Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.
