The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Disgust at Fife candidate’s Tory suicide remark
removed: Labour had already ditched Jackson over Auschwitz Facebook post
A Fife election candidate refused to apologise for using an image of Auschwitz in his election campaign, instead saying all Tories should die.
Former Labour member Deek Jackson, who came close to being selected as a party candidate, published a parody of a Conservative poster which superimposed an image of the Nazi death camp.
When challenged, he said: “Far from apologising, I think all Conservatives should commit suicide and rid the planet of a parasitic life form robbing the rest of us of our birthright, a life free from exploitation.”
His comments were described as disgraceful by a Scottish Conservative spokesperson and “sad and pathetic” by the Conservative leader on Fife Council, Dave Dempsey.
Mr Jackson, a busker and comedian from Dunfermline standing as an independent in Dunfermline Central, posted the same image on Facebook a Labour councillor in Nottingham was suspended for tweeting two years ago.
It was based on a Conservative poster with the slogan ‘Let’s stay on the road to a stronger economy’, but replaced a photograph of a road and countryside with the death camp and included the words ‘More people on zero hours’.
Mr Dempsey said the image was “insulting”.
He said: “It’s sad and pathetic but the public are clever enough that those who bother to read his material will make of it what they will.”
A party spokesperson said: “This post is hugely offensive and it’s clear that attacks like this have no place in modern political discourse.
“This candidate has clearly acted inappropriately, and he should apologise for posting this image.”
Of the suicide retort, he said: “This is yet another disgraceful comment from this individual.”
Unrepentant, Mr Jackson said Facebook moderators stopped him making even more inflammatory comments.
When it was suggested the public might by offended by his post, he replied: “I’m offended by the phrase ‘hard working families’, I’m offended by people consuming the planet.”
He said he had been threatened, cursed at and spat at in the street for his views and said: “The Conservative demand I apologise is just another form of that.
“I thought we lived in a free world where people with opposing and different viewpoints were welcome to those viewpoints.”
A Scottish Labour spokesman said: “Deek Jackson was removed as a candidate because of his offensive tweets. He is now no longer a member of the Labour Party.”