Labour candidate tweeted anti-Israel conspiracy theory

A Labour parliamentary candidate posted controversial tweets peddling a conspiracy theory about Israel and defending Ken Livingstone against accusations of antisemitism, it has been revealed.

Caroline Kolek, the mayor of Honiton in Devon and candidate for Tiverton and Honiton, also posted a graphic which accused Israel of seeking to capitalise on unrest in Syria by seeking to obtain oil from inside the country’s territory. The same tweet, which has now been deleted, implicated Rupert Murdoch in the plot.

She also tweeted a quote by Mr Livingstone in which he claimed to be the victim of a 35-year smear campaign by the “Israel lobby”. The former Mayor of London was suspended for two years by the Labour Party for claiming that Adolf Hitler supported Zionism in the 1930s.