‘Abhorrent racist’ Brexit Party candidate was announced ‘in error’

General election candidate for the Moray constituency Mark Nash called for mosques to be bulldozed and for the “cancer” of Islam in the UK to be “crushed out of existence” while using the pseudonym Moraymint.

The National revealed that in one blog post he wrote: “We’re at war with Islam, to all intents and purposes, but the last people in our country to acknowledge this at the moment are – ironically – the people elected to govern us.”

He continued: “If the Muslim community resists this change of attitude by our society, to its place in our society and the implications for the religion and its followers, then Islam in the UK should be crushed out of existence.”

In 2017, shortly after the London Bridge terrorist attacks, he called for the powers to “bulldoze” mosques.

“We must be able and willing to monitor and control that which goes on in mosques, certainly for as long as there is any suspicion whatsoever that mosques are breeding grounds for fanatics.

“In so doing, we must have the legal powers to counter ‘bad’ mosques and, rather like we’d tackle an errant licenced premises, we must be able to close down mosques if that’s deemed to be best for society; bulldoze them to rubble if necessary.”

And he called for the term “hate crime” to be scrapped as part of his Islamophobic remarks.

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He wrote: “We need to take the religion of Islam off its pedestal, take off our kid gloves, lambast [sic] and ridicule Islam, draw cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, bring the Enlightenment to bear on Islam, scrub bandying about the preposterous term ‘hate crime’ and move to eliminate (rather than protect and promote) the Medieval, politico-religious creed that is a cancer in our society – before it eliminates us.

“Forget ‘moderate Islam’ and ‘radical Islam’ – we need to talk about Islam. Full stop. Every day we don’t discuss Islam, we move a day closer to the Caliphate. It’s not difficult.”

A Brexit Party spokesperson said that the candidate had originally failed vetting and was announced “in error”, but a post from Moraymint claims he was personally vetted by Nigel Farage in a 10 minute phone call.

Labour MSP Anas Sarwar said his “abhorrent racist comments have no place in Scottish society.”

He continued: “This serves as a stark reminder that we have so much work still to do to make Scotland the tolerant, inclusive country we should aim for.

“The fight against hatred is a fight for all of us. As for this particular candidate, the Brexit Party should do the right thing and deselect him and consider what disciplinary action it will take.”

Earlier this week a Brexit Party MEP vehemently disputed claims the organisation was racist – claiming there were more racists in the Remain camp.