Labour activist who questioned Jo Cox's killing set to be dumped as parliamentary candidate

A would-be Labour MP who questioned the killing of Jo Cox is set to be ditched as a parliamentary candidate, PoliticsHome understands.



Mandy Richards said the murder of Ms Cox in 2016 was “conveniently bereft of evidence” and also questioned whether last year’s Manchester Arena terror attack took place.

She has also been banned from bringing court actions without the permission of a judge, and alleged that MI5, MI6, the Metropolitan Police, the Army, Thames Water, the Royal Mail, Hackney Council, her GP and others were harassing her.

Labour figures reacted with horror after Ms Richards - who claims to have worked previously for shadow equalities minister Dawn Butler - was chosen to fight the Tory-held marginal seat of Worcester at the next election.

if Mandy Richards remains a Labour Parliamentary candidate with tweets like this then I’m beyond words pic.twitter.com/KEg5YNn1D7 — Jim Pickard (@PickardJE) 23 April 2018

But party sources have said that she failed to fill in the section of her candidate application form which asked whether there is anything in her background which could "embarrass either themselves or the party ... or bring the party into disrepute". She also failed to mention anything of that nature during her interview by the local party in Worcester.

Under Labour rules, candidates selected at hustings must also be endorsed by the party's ruling national executive committee, and it is thought unlikely that they will do so in this case.

Mike Foster, who was Labour MP for Worcester from 1997 until 2010, said Mandy Richards should be "sacked immediately" as candidate for his former seat.

Labour MP John Woodcock also made clear his opposition to her standing for the party at the next election.

We would be outraged if any other party picked a candidate who said this about the murder of our friend. We should care even more about getting our own house in order. https://t.co/KxcvAKRJCk — John Woodcock (@JWoodcockMP) 23 April 2018