v A former Tory candidate for the Greater London Authority has told the JC he was once advised not to stand for Parliament because he was Jewish.
Ben Seifert — who left the Tories in September — claimed a member of the Hackney Conservative Association told him that it would “look like a stitch-up”.
Mr Seifert said he received a phone call from “quite an old member” in April or May this year.
“Because all the Conservative councillors on Hackney Council are Charedi… he called me to say, ‘It will look as if it’s a sort of stitch-up if we have a Jewish candidate in Hackney South or Hackney North, and therefore I don’t think you should stand in that seat, because you can have too many Jews’.”
Mr Seifert “thought about” making an official complaint, but decided against it because he “also thought he didn’t speak for the selection committee.
“But my feeling was: this is someone who holds a position in the Conservative Party who believes it’s ok to say, ‘you’re Jewish, and therefore you should not be able to do x, y and z.’ And that’s what I found a bit difficult.”
Mr Seifert said he thought there was a “fear of the other” in the Tory party but that there was not institutionalised antisemitism or Islamophobia.
The Conservative Party was contacted for comment.
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