Wednesday, April 30, 2014
KASHMIRA GANDER
The council candidate asked his Facebook friends why Mo Farah could compete for Team GB
Mo Farah, who won gold in the 5,000m and the 10,000m at the 2012 Olympic Games. Photograph: Ian Walton/Getty Images
A Ukip council candidate has sparked a new racism row after he argued that British Olympic Champion Mo Farrah is “African”.
Adding to the seemingly endless race-related gaffes that are emerging from the party ranks in the run up to the EU election, David Wycherley reportedly wrote on his Facebook: “can somebody explain please….Mo Farah, an African from Somalia,who trains in America,has won a gold medal for Britain ![sic],” according to the Guardian.
The message was posted after Mr Farah, who moved to London as a child and grew up in the west London borough of Hounslow, won a 10,000m Gold for team GB.
In another comment, the Rushall-Shelfield ward candidate in Walsall reportedly joked about “starving Africans” whilst complaining about his water bill, according to the newspaper.
The revelation comes after now former council candidate William Henwood resigned as a Ukip member on Tuesday, after he suggested Lenny Henry should emigrate to a “black country”. The statement was in reaction to a campaign launched by the actor which aims to see greater representation for ethnic minorities across the British media.
Mr Henwood’s resignation came as the party announced it planned to expel an English Defence League donor and former British National Party member.
However, controversies have failed to dent Ukip's soaring poll ratings which have put it on course to top the national poll.