English Democrat chair celebrates ‘rumour’ that Diane Abbott has Ebola
A regional chair of the English Democrats has made a post on Facebook celebrating a “rumour” that Labour MP Diane Abbott had contracted Ebola.
Steve Uncles, who is the South East Chairman, and was the lead candidate for the party in the 2014 European Elections, posted on Facebook to say “there is a God”, because there was a “rumour” that Hackney MP Diane Abbott has Ebola.
He wrote: “Rumour that Labour MP Diane Abbott has contracted Ebola …. There is a God ?” on his personal Facebook page, which is publicly viewable.
Worryingly, 33 of his friends liked the status, with one writing: “Brilliant comment. Shared”.
Another two commenters wrote that they hoped it was true, and one said he hoped “she’s shared it with [Ed] Miliband.”
Diane Abbott responded, telling PinkNews: “Sadly, as of late this is typical of the type of comment that has been posted to Twitter about me by certain people. This man was a South East England European Election candidate and it’s worrying that he is striving towards becoming part of mainstream politics. The remarks reveal how toxic anti-immigrant politics has become since the rise of UKIP.”
Uncles also tweeted the comment.
A few days before, he tweeted: “The time has come for England’s voice to be heard.”
Diane Abbott is a strong supporter of LGBT rights, and often campaigns on issues such as inclusive PSHE, homophobic hate crimes, and international LGBT issues.
Diane Abbott was photographed alongside PinkNews Publisher Benjamin Cohen at a BNP Paribas diversity event, in good health ten days after Uncles posted on social media.
I tried to out jacket @HackneyAbbott tonight at @pinknews partner @BNPPARIBAS_NET‘s Black History Month event! pic.twitter.com/4WdSMJ23Mv
— Benjamin Cohen (@benjamincohen) October 15, 2014
At the event, Ms Abbott spoke in celebration of Black History Month, and noted the abuse she receives on social media, some because she is female, and some because she is black.
The English Democrats in the 2014 European elections scraped just 0.8% of the vote (126,024 votes), down from 1.8% in 2009.
Uncles earlier this year defended fellow English Democrat candidate Julia Gasper, who said: “There are far too many homosexuals in Parliament”.
He said she was “factually correct.”
