Politics

Tory mayoral candidate for London embroiled in racism scandal

Campaign group HOPE not hate has uncovered what it describes as the “racist social media history” of the Conservative candidate for London mayor, Susan Hall.

According to the advocacy body, Hall has liked tweets praising Enoch Powell in the past and others that described Sadiq Khan as a “traitor rat”.

Hall liked an image of the notorious anti-immigration politician, a favourite of the far-right, which quoted him saying: “It’s never too late to save your country.”

The tweet liked by the Tory hopeful bore the message: “It’s never too late to get London back!”

The slogan by Powell – infamous for his “rivers of blood” speech which condemned immigration to Britain – was used by the British National Party (BNP).

Hall was also found to have liked a message on X, formerly known as Twitter, which described Khan as “our nipple height mayor of Londonistan”.

Further tweets liked by Hall, first highlighted by The Times, included one suggesting that Khan would endorse corruption at May’s mayoral vote.

The post claimed the Labour mayor was “begging for londoners to do a tower hamlets postal vote for May next year and we all know how that works. #fraud”.

Following a tweet in which Hall criticised Khan’s strategy for tackling violence against women and girls, she liked a response which said: “Well said Susan, that Labour Traitor RAT likes that sort of thing.”

A spokesperson for the Hall campaign said: “Susan engages with many people on Twitter without endorsing their views.

“Londoners want a mayor who listens to people and deals with the bread-and-butter issues that matter to them – making our streets safer and putting more money back in people’s pockets. As mayor, Susan will deliver that.”

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Jack Peat

Jack is a business and economics journalist and the founder of The London Economic (TLE). He has contributed articles to VICE, Huffington Post and Independent and is a published author. Jack read History at the University of Wales, Bangor and has a Masters in Journalism from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

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