A Havering Council election candidate has denied mocking people with autism, after being suspended from the Conservative Party following concerns over his online activity.
In a letter to the Romford Recorder, Ed Green defended some of the social media comments after he was placed under investigation by his party late last month.
His Facebook posts included mocking autistic climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, supporting Andrew Bridgen MP after he compared Covid vaccines to the Holocaust and referring to a gay journalist as living a “monkeypox prone life”.
He also described a black woman as “a race baiting attention whore”, and shared offensive caricatures of Muslim men.
His posts were criticised by an autism charity volunteer and the Havering Islamic Cultural Centre.
Mr Green did not apologise for any of his posts and claimed the Recorder’s reporting on them was part of a campaign of “lies and innuendo” by the Havering Residents Association (HRA).
“I sought to fight a clean campaign,” he said.
Mr Green will appear on the ballot paper at this week’s Upminster by-election as the Conservative candidate.
But his suspension means that if elected, he must sit as an independent until the party decides whether to permanently expel him.
In his letter – which appears on the letters page of this week’s Recorder – he claimed: “I am not the only political opponent the HRA political party has sought to smear.”
“Little autistic messiah”
Mr Green described climate change activist Greta Thunberg online as a “little autistic messiah”.
But in his letter, he wrote: “I have never mocked people with autism. I have criticised Greta Thunberg (who has autism) and the way in which I believe she had been manipulated by eco-extremists exploiting her to damage the lives of the majority while enriching themselves.”
The post describing Ms Thunberg as a “little autistic messiah” was one of several on Mr Green’s page which ridiculed her.
Another showed a car with a high-powered engine, with Ms Thunberg superimposed onto the underside of the bonnet, crying.
Catch up on our exclusive investigation, which saw Ed Green suspended:
“Violence against women”
Another of Mr Green’s posts was an image of a Muslim woman, photoshopped to giver her a black eye and a missing tooth. It was captioned: “I did not want a hijab, then my husband convinced me.”
He also shared posts linking Muslim men to sex crimes against “the indigenous population”.
Mr Green wrote in his letter: “My only posts on ‘violence against women’ have been made while campaigning against it.
“Sadly, there is a problem in this world with sexual violence, domestic violence and stranger violence and often the victims of this are women.
“In many cases false shame, modest dress, fear of coming forward or community pressure prevents victims from speaking out, so I campaign against it.”
He did not comment on other allegedly Islamophobic posts on his page, which included a caricature of a Muslim man beheading people.
Another post he shared reported that two Muslim men had been arrested for alleged offences and was captioned, “Import Muhammad; gets Muhammad.”
Covid
Mr Green made no comment in his letter about his many posts downplaying the Covid-19 pandemic and attacking life-saving vaccines.
When Tory MP Andrew Bridgen had the whip removed for sharing Covid disinformation, including comparing vaccines to the Holocaust, Mr Green shared a “Justice for Andrew Bridgen” petition.
Mr Green wrote that most people hospitalised with Covid were “fat and lazy”.
He twice used the online hashtag #NoAmnesty, which is typically used by Covid conspiracy theorists demanding that those who promoted the pandemic go on trial for crimes against humanity.
Mr Green wrote that those who promoted Covid mitigations “should be made [to] pay the price”.
“A complete shock”
Gillian Ford, deputy leader of Havering Council’s HRA administration, said: “The Recorder’s story didn’t come from us. It’s his own party that’s suspended him.
“We didn’t do the research or find out any of this information. We had no idea at all. It was a complete shock to the HRA to hear these things.
“It’s disappointing that somebody who’s been found to have been making these comments is blaming somebody else for it.”
The Hornchurch and Upminster Conservative Association, whose website listed Mr Green until recently as “deputy chairman political”, never responded to the Recorder’s questions about its selection and vetting processes for local elections.
Hornchurch and Upminster MP Julia Lopez’s office also never responded to a request for comment.
The Upminster by-election is taking place on Thursday (August 10).
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