A UKIP candidate standing for Parliament has described Islam as an “evil cult,” reports the Express & Star.
Steve Latham, who is aiming to win in West Bromwich East, made the remarks on his Facebook page.
UKIP is standing by him after investigating. The party could not drop him as a candidate even if it wanted to as nominations closed on April 9.
Latham has apologised and said he was only criticising extremists, not Muslims in general.
The former pub landlord, now a coach driver, put a message on Facebook linking to an old news story about a then-Labour minister claiming the party had been infiltrated by a fundamentalist Muslim group that wanted to create an “Islamic social and political order” in Britain.
Mr Latham posted his own remarks saying: “So the Muslims have infiltrated the Labour party. What a surprise. Who would have guessed such a thing was possible? The Labour Party of Diane Abbott and Harriet Harman infiltrated by the evil cult of Islam. Wow.”
A spokesman for UKIP said: “UKIP notes that Steve Latham has apologised for his remark and explained that he was intending to criticise only extremists and not all Muslims. UKIP has many Muslim members, some of them candidates in this election, who fully support our positions on religion, immigration, culture and social cohesion, and clearly Mr Latham’s comment did not represent the party’s view.
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Meanwhile, Sandwell Council’s Labour leader Darren Cooper said: “This is an outrageous statement to make about someone else’s religion. I call on Nigel Farage to suspend Steve Latham as a Parliamentary candidate.”
