Conservative councillor and former Lord Mayor of Portsmouth suspended after reportedly baking a swastika into a hot cross bun and posting the image on social media
A Conservative councillor and former Lord Mayor of Portsmouth has been suspended by his Party after reportedly baking a swastika into a hot cross bun and posting the image on social media.
Cllr Lee Mason baked a batch of the oven pastries over Easter, each emblazoned with an expletive or symbol, and put a photograph on Snapchat.
However, he denied that he baked a hot cross bun with a swastika and insisted that the photograph must have been altered online somehow. He admitted that the other buns, words and symbols were unaltered.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Next week the Jewish community will be observing Yom HaShoah, remembering the six million Jewish men, women and children slaughtered during the Holocaust just for being Jewish. Whether the emblazoning of a swastika on a hot cross bun was meant as a celebration of the abominable Nazi regime or a joke, the Jewish community and local residents in Portsmouth expect better from their representatives, and the Conservative Party must investigate this councillor’s conduct immediately. We welcome his suspension pending that investigation.”
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.