ILFORD: Parliamentary candidate reinstated after racism row (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

ILFORD: Parliamentary candidate reinstated after racism row

9:59am Friday 9th April 2010 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(1)

A Parliamentary candidate has been reinstated by his party after apologising for posting offensive remarks on a social care website.

Paul Wiffen, who will stand for the United Kingdom Independence Party in Ilford South, was initially suspended after he sent an email to the Community Care site in response to what he saw as unfair criticism of his organisation by a blogger.

His message contained controversial comments about several ethnic minority groups including Muslims and Romanian gipsies.

Mr Wiffen, who is chair of UKIP London, was reinstated after saying sorry for the email and following an internal party inquiry.

He said: "I was very surprised to see such a party political piece on a website called 'Community Care', and when I read the lies about UKIP being a racist party, I just saw red, and fired off an angry email.

"I am truly sorry to anyone offended by some of the language I used."