The Observer has reported on electoral material distributed by Dagenham and Rainham Conservatives that ‘airbrushed out’ ethnic minority candidates. The campaign calendars list the names and contact details of Wale Oguntona, Emran Uddin and Samson Omosule but only include photos of the party’s white candidates. Simon Wolley, the founder of Operation Black Vote, slammed the Tories over the news. “There is a clear intent from the Conservative Party to airbrush its candidates out of these leaflets”, he said, adding: “You can either confront race hatred or pander to it, as they are doing by having only white faces on their material.”

Tory Stories can reveal that the reverse side of the calendars featured a prominent image of David Cameron with the local Conservative parliamentary candidate:

This raises an important question. It has been reported that the Conservative Party now rigorously vets all electoral material; Tory candidates were recently told by the party’s Chief Whip Patrick McLouglin that they “could put nothing in writing to their voters without first getting permission from the party leadership.” Did Cameron, his office, or anyone else in CCHQ see the leaflets before they were cleared for distribution?

This comes just days after Cameron promised that Conservatives would stand up for ethnic minorities, a pledge that stands on increasingly shaky ground; today’s news marks the latest in a string of cases in which his party has been accused of pandering to prejudice and intolerance.

| Category Electoral Politics, London