BORIS Johnson lost another candidate this weekend in a further blow to the Tory General Election campaign.
Antony Calvert had been chosen to contest the Wakefield seat in England but withdrew following the publication of racist and sexist Facebook posts.
The Sunday Times reported that the 41-year-old told followers that Libyan dictator Colonel Gaddafi, who was killed after he was found hiding in a culvert during the Arab Spring of 2011, “should surely have fled to Bradford” if he’d wanted to walk the streets unrecognised.
And, in separate posts, he is said to have called food poverty claims “ludicrous” and slammed Labour’s Harriet Harman for “banging on about wholly and utterly irrelevant feminist issues”.
Calvert, a property consultant, said the posts were more than a decade old and “certainly not intended to cause any offence”, but has stepped down from the election race.
The decision follows the loss of Tory candidate Nick Conrad, whose on-air comments suggesting women should “keep their knickers on” to avoid rape while working for BBC Radio Norfolk caused outcry.
Last week National columnist Kirsty Strickland revealed how Conrad had sent her “late-night messages” threatening legal action by the BBC after she started a petition calling for his sacking in 2014.
Businessman Jerome Mayhew, the son of ex-Northern Ireland Secretary Lord Mayhew, has now been selected to contest the Broadland seat in Norfolk after Conrad, who is no longer with the BBC, stepped down.
The Tory changes follow a spate of Labour losses in Scotland.
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As many as three prospective MPs have been dropped by Jeremy Corbyn’s team in less than a fortnight.
They include Frances Hoole, who was deselected after sharing a “threatening” tweet about her Edinburgh South West rival Joanna Cherry, of the SNP.
The message showed a doctored image of Hoole – whose profile contained a reference to murdered Labour MP Jo Cox – pointing a cleaning spray at Cherry with the words: Bang and the Terf is gone.” That term is an acronym for “trans-exclusionary radical feminist” and is widely used online as a term of abuse and Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard told The National it was not an acceptable term for a candidate to use.
Kate Ramsden, who had been aiming to win Gordon for the party, also quit last week following the emergence of comments she had made about the Israeli government and child abuse.
In an apology, Ramsden said: “I can see why many Jewish people have been hurt by my words.
“That was never my intention and I apologise unreservedly.”
That row followed the deselection of Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross candidate Bill Curran, who claimed Labour had been “too apologetic” on anti-Semitism.
READ MORE: Scottish Labour campaign in chaos as third candidate dropped
Another Labour candidate, Gideon Bull, withdrew from the race on Friday after the use of an anti-Semitic remark in a meeting. Bull, a councillor, had aimed to represent Clacton in Essex and said that though he used the term “Shylock”, he did not know the Shakespearean villain was Jewish and had not been referring to a Jewish councillor when he said it.
The problems follow a rush of withdrawals from both parties, with incumbent MPs including Jo Johnson, the PM’s brother, and Labour deputy leader Tom Watson both opting not to stand again.
The parties have until November 14 – Thursday – to finalise selection for the UK’s 650 constituencies.
This weekend questions remained over the candidacy of Alun Cairns, who quit as Welsh Secretary as parliament broke up on Wednesday after an email emerged showing he knew a former aide had “sabotaged” a trial.
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