Reform candidate Angela Carter-Begbie says ‘the banks are run by the Jews’ as the party remains silent on calls for her suspension

• Candidate previously compared the introduction of the Covid-19 vaccine to the Holocaust
• Tory politician Samia Hersi: “There should be no place for anti-Semitism in politics”
• Campaign against anti-Semitism: “Trophies have no place in today’s world”

Reform remained silent tonight on calls to suspend a candidate who claimed on social media that banks were “owned by Jews.”

Angela Carter-Begbie will be on the ballot in Queen’s Park and Maida Vale – despite calls from her Tory opponent Nigel Farage to withdraw the party’s support from her.

The reform candidate – who was exposed last month for comparing the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine to the Holocaust – said last year during a discussion on financing the country: “Because the banks want to make it a new country. They belong to the Jews.”

Samia Hersi, her Conservative rival in the London constituency, said: “In light of these racist and anti-Semitic comments, the Reform Party and Nigel Farage must suspend Angela Carter-Begbie as their candidate.”

“This is terrible and there should be no place for anti-Semitism and racism in politics.”

A spokesman for the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism said: “The Jewish community has long been accused of medieval conspiracy theories that it controls the banks and the economy.”

“There is no place for such clichés in 21st century Britain.”

“The party should urgently investigate this.”

Neither Reform nor Mrs Carter-Begbie were available for comment yesterday.

Nigel Farage expressed his “regret” that Reform UK is putting forward “some bad people” as candidates in the election.

And last month he sparked outrage by claiming that the West had provoked the Russian invasion of Ukraine by expanding the EU and NATO.

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Rishi Sunak later said Mr Farage was an “appeaser” of Russian President Vladimir Putin, while Boris Johnson branded the reformists “Putinistas” earlier this week.

Ms Carter-Begbie had also described the king as “weak” on social media in the past, suggesting that he was under the control of global elites.

And last April, she commented on the vaccine rollout: “I said that the approach to vaccination is slowly repeating the Holocaust movement. People are being put in camps, they are losing their jobs, they are becoming homeless.”

“Holocaust is the name of a movement.”

It was previously revealed that her fellow Reform Party candidate Darren Ingrouille, who is running in Chelmsford, compared people with autism to “vegetables”.

In a now-deleted post, the candidate responded to a user who described himself as an “autistic father of twin boys”: “I can understand that you have learning difficulties, many of us reasonable people would be better able to appreciate that… Keep up the good work or just keep preferring your own kind: the vegetable.”

Former minister Vicky Ford, the Tory candidate in Chelmsford, said on Wednesday evening: “Everything inside me is utterly disgusted. No words.”

Mr Ingrouille also previously told a woman: “Please do not reproduce, whatever you do.”

He did not respond to a request for comment last night, but shared a post on Tuesday that read: “Currently the Conservatives, through CCHQ, in collaboration with the corrupt MSM (mainstream media), are waging a coordinated campaign to discredit Reform UK.”

The party has already dropped several candidates over offensive comments or past support for far-right organisations. Mr Farage blamed a screening company for poor background checks.

The reform leader said last night: “Everything has gone wrong in the last few months. I regret not fully recognising the extent of the problem a month ago, but I will put it right.”

“I sorted it out at Ukip, and I had no problems with it at the Brexit Party. From Friday, my first two big tasks are to professionalise and democratise the party.”