Parties urged to act over candidates' racist posts

The Green Party and Reform UK have both been urged to cut ties with local election candidates in different parts of London who have published racist and offensive posts online.

Reform's candidate in Ickenham and South Harefield, Howard Dini, made a series of Islamophobic comments, including one that called for a mass shooting of Muslims.

Aziz Hakimi, a Green Party candidate in Camden, shared antisemitic posts, including some which claimed Israel was behind the Golders Green attacks. The party's candidate in Croydon, Mark Adderley, was reported to have shared posts comparing Israel to Nazi Germany.

Reform and the Greens said they were investigating the comments made by their candidates.

The Green Party added that Hakimi's comments "do not reflect the views and values of the Green Party".

Hakimi, one of the Green council candidates for Haverstock ward, was accused of "abhorrent and antisemitic" conduct over his social media activity.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) reported seeing posts from the candidate alleging that "Zionists" were behind the 9/11 attacks.

The LDRS approached Hakimi for an opportunity to comment, but he did not respond.

Labour's Richard Olszewski, leader of Camden Council, said: "Aziz Hakimi's conduct is abhorrent and antisemitic and I'm appalled that the Camden Green Party selected him. His views have no place in our borough.

"The Camden Green Party must drop Hakimi immediately and make this clear to voters in Haverstock that they no longer support his candidacy."

Speaking to the LDRS, leader of the opposition Tom Simon of the Liberal Democrats said he was "appalled to read the antisemitic and hateful views".

"Peddling conspiracy theories that 'Zionists' were responsible for 9/11 and that the recent arson of the Jewish community ambulances in Golders Green was a 'false-flag' operation is not only abhorrent but dangerous," he said.

"If the Green Party is serious about standing against antisemitism, racism and hatred, they must act decisively, disown him as a candidate immediately and expel him from the party. To fail to do so would mean the Green Party is condoning his views."

Lorna Jane Russell, leader of Camden Greens, said: "Camden Green Party unequivocally reject antisemitism and all forms of racism.

"We take these allegations extremely seriously and while the party's investigation is ongoing, I want to reassure our community that these views are unacceptable."

As reported by the Times, the Green Party's candidate in Croydon, Mark Adderley, a candidate in Crystal Palace & Upper Norwood, had previously shared posts comparing Israel to Nazi Germany and suggesting it was responsible for attacks against Jewish people.

This included a video in which he attributed responsibility to Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the Golders Green ambulance attack.

The LDRS approached Croydon Green Party and Adderley for comment.

In west London, the candidate for Ickenham and South Harefield, Howard Dini, published a number of Islamophobic and ableist posts on his social media accounts, including a reshare of a post by someone else declaring "I'm a proud ISLAMAPHOBE".

A comment posted from Dini's account in response to someone else made reference to celebrating "when every [expletive] Palestinian is dead".

In a direct threat of violence towards Muslims, one post from Dini's account in December 2025 read: "It is time to return the gun fire when the Islamists gather on their festival we should go and shoot them and as many as possible it is called an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth."

When asked about the posts, Dini told the LDRS: "You must be one of the few that enjoy our country being invaded and with no-go areas." Dini has not responded to the BBC's request for a response.

When asked about their candidate's comments online, Reform UK said: "The party is looking into these allegations."

Ian Edwards, who is the Conservative leader of Hillingdon Council, told the BBC: "Any decent party would immediately withdraw the whip from him, so they need to suspend his membership whilst they investigate the allegations and also at the same time they need to be withdrawing their support for him in the local elections.

"If they don't do either of that, it will clearly show Reform's support for outrageous, extremist views against sections of our own community."

Danny Beales, who is the Labour MP for Uxbridge and Ruislip South, said: "It does bring into question, a) whether any vetting takes place at all from Reform about their candidates, and b) if this candidate was vetted, how do they meet basic standards for candidates?

"Are these people we want running key public services? Schools, social care, community anti-social behaviour services?

"I think most people would be shocked and appalled that someone like this could end up being a councillor and running Hillingdon Council."

Now that the nomination deadline has passed, even if parties withdraw support for candidates, there is now no legal way for names to be removed from the ballot paper – even if a candidate is suspended.

If the candidate is then elected, the result would stand and they would sit as an independent.

Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to hello.bbclondon@bbc.co.uk