30 examples of antisemitism in the UK’s Conservative party
Nov 2 · 4 min read

- This year, Conservative MP Crispin Blunt accused the Chief Rabbi of requesting “special status” for Jewish people, calling for cutting funding to synagogue security to “save tax-payer money”.
- Conservative MP Crispin Blunt shared a platform with a blood-libel cleric.
- A Conservative MP that attended a Nazi themed stag-do was described as “stupid” but “not antisemitic” by the party.
- Jacob Rees-Mogg shamelessly used Soros conspiracy theories in Parliament in October 2019.
- Priti Patel used an antisemitic dog-whistle in a speech during Rosh Hashanah this year.
- In 2018, the government supported notorious racist and antisemite, Viktor Orbán.
- Boris Johnson regularly consorts with Donald Trump — who called Jewish people that do not vote for him “disloyal”.
- A Tory Greater London Authority candidate was told not to stand as an MP because he was Jewish.
- A Tory MP Suella Braverman said her party was “engaged in a fight against cultural marxism” — referring to a far-right theory that suggests western culture is being undermined by Jews. It was a term used by white supremacist terrorist, Anders Breivik. Braverman said she was trying to “prevent any further attacks on ‘British genius’”.
- In 2019, “cultural marxism” emerged again, with copies of the book “Moralitis: A Cultural Virus” distributed at the Conservative party conference. The book espoused right-wing conspiracy theories with antisemitic origins including “cultural marxism” and the “Great Replacement” antisemitic conspiracy theory.
- Photographs emerged from a Plymouth University Conservatives party in 2018 of attendees wearing clothing with “Jude” written on them with the Star of David, and people donning Hitler moustaches.
- In 2017, Hope not Hate discovered Conservative Party activists were members of a Facebook group called the “Young Right Society” which was “awash with antisemitic, Holocaust denying, and racist material”. One of the group’s administrators was Jack Hadfield, member of the Warwick University Conservative Association.
- In 2017, a Conservative council candidate was found to have posted tweets discussing “foreign Jewish agents”, and used “Jewish” as an insult.
- In 2018, a Conservative council candidate in Cambridgeshire used antisemitic language, describing himself as “sweating like a Jew in an attic”.
- In 2018, a Conservative council candidate in Stevenage referred to the Star of David as the “Mark of the Beast”.
- In 2018, a Conservative party candidate for Sunderland City Council said “I can honestly say that this morning was the first time I’ve had to scrub off a Hitler tash with a toothbrush after a night out”.
- In 2018, Roger Scruton was appointed as chair of a new Housing and Architecture Committee. Scruton has been criticised by Luciana Berger because he “pedall[ed] antisemitic conspiracy theories” about George Soros. He was also criticised by Wes Streeting due to his links with Viktor Orban. Dawn Butler described his language as that which white supremacists use.
- Boris Johnson has links with Steve Bannon, known antisemite and self-professed “platform of the alt-right”.
- Former Tory aide, Nick Timothy, wrote for the Daily Telegraph using antisemitic tropes about George Soros, accusing Soros of having a “secret-plot” to stop Brexit.
- In 2015, a Conservative local council candidate said she could never support “the Jew” Ed Miliband.
- In 2014, UCL’s Conservative society condemned by the UCL’s student union for antisemitism — one accusation including a member saying “Jews own everything, we all know it’s true. I wish I was Jewish, but my nose isn’t long enough”.
- In 2011, an officer at the Oxford University Conservative Association stated that some association members at weekly meetings sang a Nazi-themed song with the lyrics “Dashing through the Reich / killing lots of Kike”.
- Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen said in the House of Commons in 2014 that “the political system of the world’s superpower and our great ally the United States very susceptible to the well-funded lobbying groups and power of the Jewish lobby in America”.
- In 2014, Conservative MP Patrick Mercer was recorded by a journalist, Daniel Foggo, saying that an Israeli solider looked like “a bloody Jew”.
- In 2013, David Cameron defended Tottenham Hotspur fans using the slurs “yid” and “yiddos” saying fans should not be prosecuted for saying them.
- Jacob Rees-Mogg has shared videos from the far-right group, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), and has defended doing so. The Central Council of Jews in Germany have described the AfD as one that “incites fears and promotes a climate of exclusion for minorities”.
- While editor at the Spectator, Boris Johnson published an article by Taki Theodoracopulos, which wrote about the Jewish world conspiracy and declared himself to be a “soi-disant anti-Semite”. The pro-Tory magazine defended employing him because it’s “good for sales”.
- Conservative Party voters were found to hold more antisemitic views than any other party’s voter base, with 31% believing “Jews chase money more than other Britons”.
- Boris Johnson has worked closely with Nigel Farage who has been regularly embroiled in antisemitism rows — including when he described George Soros as the “biggest danger to the western world”. The Brexit party said criticism of his language by Jewish groups and MPs was “pathetic”.
- This year, a Conservative party councillor said antisemitism in Labour was a “false flag, probably masterminded by Mossad”.
