Image copyright Waheed Rafiq The Liberal Democrats have suspended an election candidate over alleged anti-Semitic and racist social media posts.
Waheed Rafiq was standing in Birmingham Hodge Hill. It is too late for the party to put forward a new candidate.
A party spokesman said the suspension decision was made two hours after it was made aware of the material.
Mr Rafiq said he had been “hacked” and would ask Twitter and Facebook to investigate.
In some of the posts uncovered by Buzzfeed – dating from 2010 to 2014 – Mr Rafiq allegedly stated he wanted to kiss “cute black women”, appeared to endorse the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad and backed Donald Trump for president.
In a statement, the Lib Dems said the posts “are clearly and unambiguously anti-Semitic and bring the party into disrepute, and are also of material disagreement with the fundamental values and objectives of the party”.
Mr Rafiq said: “I am very upset by these remarks. I have been hacked, I am not this type of person.
“It has not been confirmed to me by the party that I have been suspended, though I can understand the party’s position in terms of wanting to distance themselves from someone who has the type of character these remarks imply.
“But they are not my remarks and I will be asking Facebook and Twitter to investigate.”
The candidates standing in Hodge Hill are:
- Labour: Liam Byrne
- The Brexit Party: Jill Dagnan
- Christian Peoples Alliance: Hilda Johani
- Green: Sylvia McKears
- Conservative: Akaal Sidhu
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