Local council candidate dropped by Conservatives allegedly still represents Party at hustings

A local council candidate who had his endorsement by the Conservatives revoked has allegedly gone on to represent the Party at a hustings.

Sham Raja, who was the Conservatives’ candidate in the Sedgley ward in Bury, was dropped by the Party on 12th April, after numerous historic and inflammatory social media posts were uncovered, including one allegedly comparing Israeli footballers to “assassins”.

However, it has been claimed that he appeared at a local hustings representing the Party on 23rd April, despite supposedly no longer being its candidate. He was reportedly filling in for Jason McLeod, who is a candidate for the Party in Levenshulme ward, which is not in Bury.

The claim comes as Conservatives in Bury face mounting scrutiny over the series of allegations of antisemitism and revelations of inflammatory past social media posts by some of its candidates.

Last year, a Conservative councillor in Bury who had the Party whip removed after he allegedly made antisemitic comments in a job interview was reinstated by the Party. Cllr Robert (Bob) Caserta was found to have breached the Code of Conduct for Councillors and Other Voting Representatives four times when he appeared before the Standards Sub-Committee over comments apparently made during an interview to recruit a senior officer at the Council in July 2019, when Cllr Caserta is alleged to have referred to “grot spots” in Sedgley and said that it would be difficult to communicate with residents “unless you are able to speak Hebrew”.

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.

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