Another UKIP candidate accused of anti-Muslim tweet

Islamophobia Watch reports on another case of a UKIP European Parliament candidate who is alleged to have espoused anti-Muslim views on a social media site.

Dr Julia Reid has denied sharing a message on Twitter which said Islam has “no place” in Britain.

A snapshot on Twitter shows Reid sharing a message from UKIP supporter David Jones in which he states “Islam has no place in the UK [sic] needs banning”.

Since the allegations have emerged, Reid has deleted her Twitter account offering no explanation for doing so. Quite unusual given that the account would be the one credible source to back her claims of not having shared the tweet.

Reid has also disputed the veracity of the screenshot saying, “As far as I am aware I did not retweet the David Jones tweet – it is not the sort of thing I would retweet – and even so a retweet is not an endorsement.

“I did tweet a reply to Joseph Willits (@josephwillits) to say that I couldn’t find the tweet and Steve Rose ‏(@steveplrose) tweeted a link to the alleged retweet, however, when I opened the link the retweet symbol wasn’t green, which it should have been if I had retweeted it, so I do not understand why this should have appeared as a retweet under my name.”

“I have never called for Islam to be banned in the UK and would not wish for Islam to be banned in the UK or anywhere else.”

Yet the Huffington Post notes Reid’s warning last April, again on Twitter, that “Once Sharia Law becomes accepted majority of Muslim women forced to abide by them [sic]”.

Reid is the latest in a long series of allegations of anti-Muslim outbursts by UKIP candidates, including Andre Lampitt and Harry Perry, both of whom have since been suspended by the party.

In an effort to dispel the toxic and racist attention the party has attracted with the uncovering of further outrageous sentiments among the party faithful, national papers and broadcasters (The Guardian, Independent, Daily Telegraph, BBC News, SKY News, and ITV News) all pick up on Farage’s publicity stunt at a rally. Appearing alongside his party’s black and ethnic minority candidates, Farage attempts to bury the allegations with a Benetton photo op saying “from this moment on, please, do not ever call us a racist party. We are not a racist party”.

We wonder if party candidates, like Batten, Lampitt, Perry, Wycherley, Nielsen, O’Doherty, Henwood, Pain, Kitson, and the many others, got the memo?