Oh no, you're thinking, yet another cookie pop-up. Well, sorry, it's the law. We measure how many people read us, and ensure you see relevant ads, by storing cookies on your device. If you're cool with that, hit “Accept all Cookies”. For more info and to customize your settings, hit “Customize Settings”.

Review and manage your consent

Here's an overview of our use of cookies, similar technologies and how to manage them. You can also change your choices at any time, by hitting the “Your Consent Options” link on the site's footer.

Manage Cookie Preferences
  • These cookies are strictly necessary so that you can navigate the site as normal and use all features. Without these cookies we cannot provide you with the service that you expect.

  • These cookies are used to make advertising messages more relevant to you. They perform functions like preventing the same ad from continuously reappearing, ensuring that ads are properly displayed for advertisers, and in some cases selecting advertisements that are based on your interests.

  • These cookies collect information in aggregate form to help us understand how our websites are being used. They allow us to count visits and traffic sources so that we can measure and improve the performance of our sites. If people say no to these cookies, we do not know how many people have visited and we cannot monitor performance.

See also our Cookie policy and Privacy policy.

This article is more than 1 year old

Bigotry posted by your Facebook account? Use this, Mister UKIP MP wannabe: 'I was hacked'

'I've got lots of Asian friends'

A UK Independence Party candidate has claimed hackers broke into his Facebook account and posted racist and homophobic comments under his name.

Alan Harris, who is standing in Oxford West and Abingdon in May's general election, cried foul after the blog Hope Not Hate posted screenshots of remarks made by the wannabe MP's Facebook account between 2011 and 2013.

A UKIP candidate's Facebook post from 2011
UKIP candidate's Facebook post from 2012
UKIP candidate's Facebook post from 2013

"I’m absolutely disgusted. My account has been hacked – again. You know what Facebook is like," Harris told The Independent. "I wouldn’t say anything about gay people because I have a gay son. I’ve got lots of Asian friends. I never said any of this."

If hackers were involved, it's clear they are a cunning and devious lot, infiltrating his account two years before he joined UKIP and three years before he was picked as a parliamentary candidate. UKIP Oxfordshire organizer Dickie Bird, to whom one of the vile messages was written, is not impressed.

"I will be looking into this urgently and I think the party will as well," Bird told the Oxford Mail. "I am a close personal friend of Alan’s and can say this is not language he uses."

The Facebook account has now been deleted, but it's clear UKIP has a social media problem. Last week the UKIP candidate for Hendon Jeremy Zeid was forced to step down over comments made on the social network.

"Once Obama is out of office the Israelis should move to extradite the bastard or 'do an Eichmann' on him and lock him up for leaking state secrets," Zeid said, in response to an article on the declassifying of US federal government documents on Israel's secret nuclear program. ®

Similar topics

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like