Suspended Ukip candidate: ‘I’m not anti-Semitic’
By Tony Hudson
The Ukip candidate suspended for comments she allegedly made regarding the Holocaust has denied being anti-Semitic.
During a media firestorm Anna-Marie Crampton, who is set to stand for council election in East Sussex, strenuously denied accusations of anti-Semitism.
She took to Twitter to say she had "clearly been trolled".
"I'm not anti-Semitic. I never said I do not believe in the Holocaust," she posted.
Crampton was suspended by the eurosceptic party ahead of next week's local elections after comments attributed to her were posted on a conspiracy theory website questioning who was responsible for the Holocaust during the Second World War.
"Holocaust means a sacrifice by fire. Only the Zionists could sacrifice their own in the gas chambers," Crampton allegedly wrote.
"The Second World Wide War was engineered by the Zionist Jews and financed by the banksters to make the general public all over the world feel so guilty and outraged by the Holocaust that a treaty would be signed to create the State of Israel as we know it today."
Ukip issued a statement saying anti-Zionist conspiracy theories were not welcome in the party and expressed confusion as to why their party would be supported by people holding such views.
"While she will still be on the ballot paper as a Ukip candidate we want voters in her district to realise that she is not representing the party and the people of east Sussex," said a spokesperson.
"Rest assured that her views are not held by the party and do not reflect the views of our other excellent candidates."
This is not the first time Ukip has had to distance itself from far-right supporters. Leader Nigel Farage recently rejected the endorsement of the English Defence League, who claimed the party was "saying exactly what we say, just in a different way".
