Labour candidates blasted over social media posts which slam 'racist' UK
Labour candidates have come under scrutiny ahead of the general election on July 4.
A Labour candidate who called the Royal Family and Winston Churchill “racist” in social media posts has been condemned by her party.
Sir Keir Starmer's party described comments online by their Mid Buckinghamshire candidate Carissma Griffiths as "offensive".
She referred to war-time PM Churchill and the royals as “racists” in posts on Facebook between 2020 and 2021.
Ms Griffiths also claimed that Britain had only once in history been “the good guys”.
She apologised “for any offence caused” after the Express uncovered the comments.
A Conservative Party spokesman said: "Ms Griffiths has no respect for our Royal Family or the great British leaders of our nation's past - these disgraceful comments prove it.
"The Royal Family and Winston Churchill both exemplify British values. They should be looked up to with pride, not looked down upon and treated with disdain.
"Labour has shown their true colours, if they had any respect for Britain they should make their candidate retract her comments and apologise."
Don't miss... Jeremy Corbyn humiliated as fans blow £6k on a poll saying he'll lose [LATEST]
On June 13 2020, Ms Griffiths described Mr Churchill as a “racist”, who was “responsible for thousands of African deaths directly”, and “at the most brutal and brutish end of the British Imperial spectrum”.
In another post nearly a year later, Ms Griffiths shared an article and commented “but the Royal family isn’t racist…obvious ignorance doesn’t look good on a lot of people”, appearing to imply that the Royal Family is “racist” and that it is “ignorant” not to recognise this.
A comment posted by Ms Griffiths in 2021 said that “England doesn’t want to own up” to the “evil in its history” and that’s “why we…go on and on about the war because it’s the one of the only times Britain was on the right side of history”.
Ms Griffiths said: “I would like to apologise for any offence caused by these social media posts from several years ago. I have great respect for the Royal Family and our nation’s history. Racial equality is an issue I am very passionate about but I know I should not have posted in this way when I was reacting to news events on the internet.”
Don't miss... Election betting investigation - full list of names at centre of scandal probe [LATEST]
A Labour Party spokesman added: “These social media posts were offensive and do not reflect the views of the Labour Party which has nothing but the utmost respect and support for our King, the Monarchy and Britain’s great history.”
Meanwhile the party’s Kettering candidate appeared to have previously liked tweets branding Rwanda deportation flights "racist" and describing Britain as a "racist country".
One screenshot shows that Rosie Wrighting liked a post on X by the Stop Deportations group after the first plane carrying asylum seekers on a one-way ticket to the East African nation was grounded following a last-minute intervention by the European Court of Human Rights on June 14 2022.
The tweet said: "Everyone will be taken off the flight!! No one will be deported to Rwanda tonight!!
"We have won today, but we will continue the fight tomorrow and against every racist deportation."
