Tory London Mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey has come under fire after his Twitter account praised supporters of far-right extremist Tommy Robinson.
It came in response to a tweet from a supporter, apparently boasting that “Team Tommy” had been helping to clean graffiti left on statues after Saturday’s Black Lives Matter protest.
Mr Bailey’s account retweeted the message, adding: “Thank you.”
In recent days, the supporter’s account had branded protesters “vermin” and “ferals” - and had posted messages saying Robinson had been “stitched up” over a recent arrest.
Mr Bailey’s team later deleted the retweet.
Labour MP Dawn Butler wrote: “Shame on you for sharing content from a hateful, Islamophobic Tommy Robinson supporter today, Shaun Bailey. You should apologise too Londoners.”
Mr Bailey replied: “Thanks - you're right about Tommy Robinson. As soon as my team were made aware of the account and what 'Team Tommy' meant, the tweet was deleted.”
The original tweet, retweeted by Mr Bailey's account, read: "Team Tommy John and Jo have tonight cleaned all graffiti left by BLM rioters from Winston Churchill monument in London."
Earlier, the same account posted video of men apparently surrounding a war memorial on Whitehall, with a message that read: "We've got our football lads and patriots alike out in London protecting our memorials and statues from BLM rioters."
Another video, showing Police officers taking a knee in solidarity with protesters, describe the officers as "cucked" - short for "cuckolded", a word for a man whose wife has been unfaithful.
It describes protesters as a "mob of thugs."
A further tweet, posted before Saturday's protest, read: "Football lads will be in London today protecting our statues and monuments from these vermin following yesterday's travesty"
And a picture of a teenager protesting on the Cenotaph is accompanied by the message: "They laughed at Enoch Powell."
