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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| UKIP Facebook 'Nazi salute' candidate Alex Wood suspended | UKIP Facebook 'Nazi salute' candidate Alex Wood suspended |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| A UKIP candidate has been suspended from standing in elections for Somerset County Council after photos appeared on his Facebook account showing him making a Nazi-style salute. | A UKIP candidate has been suspended from standing in elections for Somerset County Council after photos appeared on his Facebook account showing him making a Nazi-style salute. |
| Alex Wood, 22, said the picture was taken out of context and associated comments were not written by him. | Alex Wood, 22, said the picture was taken out of context and associated comments were not written by him. |
| Mr Wood said he had told police and said his account had been "hijacked". | |
| UKIP leader Nigel Farage said any members proven to have extreme right wing views would be expelled. | |
| Mr Farage told BBC News he did not know Alex Wood but confirmed he had met him on a regional tour last week. | |
| He said Mr Wood "would be gone" if he is shown to be a Nazi sympathiser. | |
| 'Embroiled' | |
| UKIP's Somerset county committee chairman Dorothy Baker said: "It's regrettable that such a thing as this has happened. | |
| "It's a police matter, so we can't really comment because we don't know the outcome of the investigation." | |
| She said she accepted Mr Wood's explanation of what had happened and said the fact he had gone to the police "speaks for itself". | |
| She added: "You could be flippant and say there's no such thing as bad publicity, but of course we don't like to have our candidates embroiled in things like this." | |
| UKIP said Mr Wood's candidacy "was suspended pending the police investigation". |