Overview
- Reform UK suspended Chris Parry on Tuesday and said he is no longer its Hampshire and Solent mayoral candidate pending an internal investigation.
- The move followed posts he made after Monday's arson attack in Golders Green that likened Shomrim, a Jewish volunteer patrol, to "Islamists on horseback" and called them "cosplayers."
- Parry, who wrote that Shomrim had no legal authority, later denied calling the group "cosplayers" and said critics misread his reply to a tweet.
- Police are treating the ambulance fires as an antisemitic hate crime, with counter-terror officers involved in the investigation.
- Leaders from Labour, the Liberal Democrats, and local Conservatives condemned the remarks and questioned Reform's vetting, pointing to Parry's earlier post telling Deputy PM David Lammy to "go home to the Caribbean."