Green party candidate drops out of key election after posts saying Golders Green ambulance attack was ‘false flag’

The UK Green Party candidate for a key special election has withdrawn for “personal reasons,” British media reports, shortly after it was reported that he had shared social media posts claiming an attack on Jewish community ambulances was a “false flag” operation.

Chris Kennedy had been announced as the candidate by the party which has been engulfed in antisemitism scandals relating to elected officials, candidates and members.

Britain’s Times newspaper said it had approached Kennedy about a number of posts, including one that described the arrests of two men over the arson attack as “total bullshit to keep the false flag flying.”

A Green party spokesperson tells The Guardian: “These posts don’t reflect the views of the Green party. We have spoken to Chris about these posts, and he has now deleted them. He apologizes for the offense caused.”

Kennedy had been set to stand in the Makerfield byelection, in which voters could be picking the successor to Prime Minister Keir Starmer if Labour party contender Andy Burnham is elected.

Burnham is a popular mayor backed by many Labour members to replace Starmer as prime minister. But to do so, he has to become a House of Commons lawmaker.

That became a real possibility last week when Josh Simons, the Labour lawmaker for the seat of Makerfield near Manchester, stepped down, triggering a special election.

Burnham said he would run, and was later confirmed as Labour’s candidate.