Tory candidate is ditched over ‘Jew agents’ comment Second council hopeful to go over remarks

ACONSERVATIVE council election candidate has been forced to resign from the party over a series of offensive social media posts.

Obaid Khan is the second candidate in the Hall Green by-election to be dropped by their party after pushing Jewish conspiracy theories online.

In a series of angry posts on Twitter, he used the words “Jew” and “athiest” as terms of abuse in a row over Pakistani politics and said he hoped former Pakistani Presidents Asif Ali Zardari and Narwaz Sharif would be hanged. He accused others of being backed by “foreign Jew agents”.

The Birmingham Post was sent the messages, dating back to 2014 and passed them on to the Conservative Party for comment and investigation.

Within hours Mr Khan’s Twitter profile had been locked and his campaign material removed from websites and social media accounts of Birmingham Conservatives. A Conservative spokesman said: “He is no longer a member of the party. Views like that have no place in the party or our society.”

Unfortunately, for the party the deadline for the May 4 council election has passed and Mr Khan will still appear on the ballot paper as the Conservative candidate. However, all party campaigns, endorsements and support for him has ceased.

Local Tories were said to be disappointed as the seat winnable.

Mr Khan is the latest politician to be ousted by his social media comments.

Last month, Labour’s Alison Gove-Humphries was dropped by the party over a series of Facebook posts, including one which claimed a shady Israel lobby had manufactured the Labour party anti-semitism row involving former London Mayor Ken Livingston.

However, the emerged before the

He is no longer a member of the party. Views like that have no place in the party or our society

they thought scandal deadline and Labour put forward a new candidate, Liz Clements.

Labour councillor Barry Bowles (Hall Green) said: “The Conservatives have made personal attacks on our candidates, but we have stuck to policies. Now their own candidate has been found out. It’s a shame for democracy.”

The by-election was called following the resignation of former Labour councillor Sam Burden due to work commitments.