A Nottinghamshire MP has compared footballers taking the knee to Nazi salutes.
Bassetlaw MP Brendan Clarke-Smith voiced his opinions this week in a lengthy Facebook post comparing the anti-racism gesture to footballers performing the Nazi salute during a 1938 match against Germany in Berlin.
It comes after fans booed players ahead of England's match with Romania on Sunday - but boss Gareth Southgate said the team would continue to take the knee throughout the Euro 2020 matches.
In the post titled 'why politics and football don’t mix' on June 6, the MP wrote: "Following the 1936 Berlin Olympics being used as a propaganda exercise and under a great deal of pressure from both the FA and Britain’s ambassador at the time, the players were encouraged to join the hosts in making the Nazi salute prior to the match.
"Reluctantly, they agreed and for many years since it has been a great source of shame for many of those involved, including the Football Association.
"The point here is that regardless of the original intention, the mixing of politics and football had disastrous consequences..."
Mr Clarke-Smith also made a series of disputed claims about the formal Black Lives Matter movement - to which taking the knee is linked, but not exclusively - claiming it had "sinister motives", is "Marxist" and aims to "destroy" the nuclear family.
He said he will switch off his television before the England matches and during half-time.
The Mirror reports that Danny Stone, director of the Antisemitism Policy Trust, said the comparison was "offensive" and called on the Conservative party to take action against him.
He tweeted: "This is an ill-considered and offensive comparison, which taken together with the additional comments demonstrate an urgent requirement for education.
“I hope the party will take action.”
