A Labour councillor and candidate for the London Assembly has been “administratively suspended” by the party after being caught up in a dispute over alleged antisemitism.
Cllr Preston Tabois, who represents Tottenham Green, is facing an investigation after Facebook posts apparently from his account were uncovered by right-wing blog site Guido Fawkes.
The site claims the posts show he endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory allegedly made in online comments by a female former Ukip candidate – although she later denied making the remarks and claimed to have been the victim of hacking.
But left-wing blog The Skwawkbox reports that supporters of Cllr Tabois claim the posts have been edited, and he was in fact supporting someone else who was condemning the antisemitic comments reported in an online newspaper article.
The Guido blog shows Cllr Tabois apparently commented “Your (sic) not wrong brother P!” under the article about the conspiracy theory.
Other Facebook posts from 2014, which are apparently from Cllr Tabois’ account, are included in the Guido Fawkes article.
One of them states: “I feel trapped (Tesco) between a Zionist (Sainsbury) and a sell out red Tory shop! Why!”
A comment apparently from his account underneath this post states: “The existence of Zionist is undeniable! Also conspiracy theories can be used as an educational tool to understand and relate to how governments are run and financed if you know how the system works in your country”.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service has been unable to obtain the original posts, as Cllr Tabois’ Facebook account is private.
A Haringey Labour spokesperson confirmed the Tottenham Green councillor had been administratively suspended pending the outcome of an investigation.
The spokesperson said: “(On August 21) we were informed that Tottenham Green Councillor, Preston Tabois, has been administratively suspended from membership of the Labour Party pending the outcome of an internal party investigation.
“The Labour Party’s investigation process operates confidentially, hence we have no further comment to make until this matter has been fully investigated by the party.”
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “The Labour Party takes all complaints of antisemitism extremely seriously and they are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures, and any appropriate disciplinary action is taken.”
Cllr Tabois and the Guido Fawkes site were both approached for comment.
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