Reform suspends Hampshire mayor candidate Chris Parry

Reform has suspended a mayoral election candidate after his comments following an arson attack on Jewish community ambulances in London. Chris Parry was suspended "pending investigation" after a series of social media posts on Monday appeared to describe members of Shomrim, a voluntary patrol service, as "cosplayers" in a post which has since been deleted. He had been selected by Reform to stand in the first Hampshire and Solent mayoral election. Party leader Nigel Farage called the comments "hurtful and wrong". Parry insisted "the issue was caused by a malign reading" of his attempt to respond to "a tweet criticising Jewish people". Counter-terror officers are continuing to investigate the arson attack that destroyed four ambulances, run by Hatzola, a Jewish charity ambulance service, on Monday. Police have previously said the incident is being treated as an antisemitic hate crime. Reform confirmed Parry had been suspended from the party, pending an investigation. Farage said he liked Parry and had known him "for a very long time", but that his comments were "crass, insensitive, hurtful and wrong". "I haven't got time for this nonsense," he added. Parry reportedly retweeted a post