STATEMENT FROM BURY NORTH AND SOUTH CONSERVATIVE ASSOCIATION
Following a historic social media post made by Mr Mahmood being brought to our attention the Association has investigated the matter and spoken to Mr Mahmood.
Mr Mahmood no longer has the endorsement of Bury Conservative Party in this election.
We are also aware of commentary circulated about one of our candidates for Bury West. We have reviewed the post highlighted as part of this commentary and we are confident that it is not anti-Semitic. As such, the candidate will continue to be endorsed in this election.
The selection process for Bury West was the most democratic process that the Association has undertaken in any of our selections this year. The candidates were selected by Ward members, not by the Association, and we are confident that the process was ran fairly and in accordance with party rules. The outcome of this selection meeting produced one of the most diverse set of candidates standing together in the local elections in Bury here in May.
The process to suspend a member from the local party is separate to any revocation of candidate endorsement, and we have been working as quickly as we can to process these complaints. We can confirm that both un-endorsed candidates have had their local party membership suspended and the matter will now be dealt with centrally under the Conservative Party’s disciplinary procedures. We have no further comment to make on this at this stage.
If there are any further areas of concern, we encourage North West Friends of Israel to share them immediately so we can deal with their contents as soon as possible. Bury Conservatives fully adopt the IHRA working definition of anti-semitism, and all cases have been reviewed on this basis. We will not countenance the horror of anti-semitism within our party, and we have demonstrated we will take robust and immediate action if any such incidents are brought to light.
ENDS