A local election candidate standing in Croydon will still appear as a Green Party member on the ballot paper next week, despite his suspension from the national party.
Mark Adderley, who is standing as a candidate in Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, was suspended by the national party last week following allegations that he promoted antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories on social media by sharing other people's posts. No finding of fault has been made by the party nationally and he has not had his membership rescinded. Mr Adderley denies the allegations.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) previously reported that Mr Adderley's account had shared posts comparing Israel to Nazi Germany and suggesting it was responsible for attacks against Jewish people. These included one video that attributed responsibility for the Golders Green ambulance attack in March to Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, which his account shared.
These shared posts prompted a backlash, leading to his suspension by the national party last week. Mr Adderley later posted a response to his suspension on Instagram, in which he condemned the party. He said: "I genuinely thought the Green Party was supposed to be different, and was promising a beacon of hope in the dark, ugly world of British party politics. Instead, they have fallen at what feels like the first hurdle in Labour's attempts to recreate the Corbyn antisemitism psychodrama of some years ago."
In another part of the post, he added: "If we are to change politics for the good, we must do things differently. We must not be unafraid to say what establishment politics has disallowed: that Zionism is racism, that opposing a fascistic, apartheid state is not racism, it is not antisemitic, it is not conflating all Jewish people with the Netanyahu regime - and that standing with the oppressed should never be something to suspend someone for."
The national Green Party has confirmed to the LDRS that Mr Adderley has been suspended. Yet despite his suspension, Croydon Green Party mistakenly continued to express support for the candidate on its official Instagram page earlier this week. Screenshots shared with the LDRS show the Croydon Green account responding to calls on a post to 'reinstate' Mr Adderley. In response, the Croydon Greens commented on the post: "Mark is very much still our candidate for Crystal Palace and you can still vote for him on 7 May."
Among those calling for Mr Adderley's reinstatement was his wife and broadcaster Nadia Sawalha. Despite his suspension from the national party, Mr Adderley will remain listed as a Green candidate on the ballot in the Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood ward at next Thursday's local election, as his candidacy was confirmed on April 9.
When asked why the local party had promoted a candidate suspended by the national party, the Green Party's mayoral candidate for Croydon, Peter Underwood, told the LDRS: "The comments were added by one of our volunteers, and there had been a misunderstanding about the fact that Mark will still appear on the ballot paper." Mr Underwood told the LDRS that these comments have now been deleted.
Mr Underwood's political opponents feel the comment continuing to promote Mr Adderley warrants further scrutiny. Councillor Stuart King, Leader of Croydon Labour, told the LDRS: "Blaming others isn't leadership. Peter Underwood needs to state publicly and categorically that he and his party have ended all support for Mark Adderley."
A full list of Croydon local election ward candidates can be found in a separate article. A full list of the Croydon mayoral candidates, and what they would do if elected, can be seen in a dedicated article.
