A CONSERVATIVE council candidate has denied being a member or supporter of the far-right British National Party after his contact details were found in a leaked BNP database.
Neill Graham, who is standing in Renfrewshire’s Paisley Northeast and Ralston ward, said his name, address, and mobile number must have been included in a mix-up.
The 26-year-old retail manager also insisted he would be able to represent Catholic voters if elected despite posting sharing posts from pro-Protestant groups on Facebook.
Mr Graham is one of a dozen Tory candidates standing in Labour-held Renfrewshire in May.
The contact details of thousands of BNP members and activists were leaked on the internet in 2008, when the party had a de facto white membership policy.
The database lists Mr Graham as an “activist” using the correct spelling of his first name.
Mr Graham confirmed the address in the database was his mother’s former home in Paisley, and that he still used the mobile number attributed to him in the document.
However he denied ever using the email listed, neillrfc1690nosurrender@hotmail.co.uk.
Asked how the details might have ended up in the database, he told the Herald: “I have never, ever signed anything or received any information about the BNP.
“The only thing I can think of is if I’ve signed a petition or something and they’ve used my name and address as if I’d joined the party. I’ve certainly never paid any money or intentionally joined a party like the British National Party. Never. Certainly I shouldn’t be on the activist list.”
In March 2014, Mr Graham shared a Facebook post by the “Proud to be a Protestant banter” group which showed a picture of the Parachute Regiment during Bloody Sunday, when soldiers shot 26 people, 13 fatally, on a civil rights march in Derry in 1972.
The 2010 Saville inquiry concluded the killings were both "unjustified" and "unjustifiable".
Mr Graham’s post contained the phrase “How many likes for the Paras?”
He said he could not remember the post, but added: “I was probably just voicing my support for the British Army in general. The Parachute Regiment was part of the British Army, so it was nothing in particular to do with Northern Ireland, as far as I can remember.”
In 2013, Mr Graham also shared posts from the “Protestant coalition” Facebook group critical of former South African president Nelson Mandela, and joked about attending a conference of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party while on a holiday in Greece.
He said: “I have no links at all to Golden Dawn. They’re clearly an anti-Semitic party and I’m definitely not anti-Semitic or anti-immigration.
“I’ve done a lot of volunteer work in the Middle East and North Africa, Muslim countries.
“I have nothing against Muslims or immigrants or Jews. Definitely not.”
An SNP spokesman said: “These crass and offensive posts by Neill Graham show exactly the kind of attitudes that are now deemed welcome in Ruth Davidson's Tory party.
"The Tories are lurching increasingly to the right, having had to suspend three candidates for angry, racist rants on social media, apologising for candidates sharing Britain First posts on Facebook, and welcoming former UKIP members, including their former Scottish chairperson, as candidates. Ruth Davidson's party are fast becoming Scotland's UKIP."
A Scottish Conservative spokesman said: “Neill Graham has never been a member of the BNP and has never supported them.”
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