Photoshop: the anti-ULEZ group run by Mayor Jason Perry and ‘Congo’ Chris Philp depends heavily on photoshopped content…

The dodgy Facebook page run by PorkiePie Perry, the Mayor of Croydon, and which has “Congo” Chris Philp MP among its members, that was exposed at the weekend as being part of a Tory network of racist anti-ULEZ groups, was subject to questions in the House of Commons on Monday.

The Labour Party has also reported the anti-ULEZ Facebook groups to the police. Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, has said that the threats posed in the groups represent a real threat to the safety of his family and staff.

Inside Croydon first revealed the dodgy Facebook postings on a group overseen by Jason Perry and other Tory Party officials last September. But at the weekend, investigations conducted by Greenpeace found another 35 similar social media pages, all of them sharing a common administrator, known to be a Conservative Party councillor.

Greenpeace described the Facebook pages as “an absolute cesspit of vile racism and hate speech”.

Far-right friends: Susan Hall at the rally in Wallington on Monday with Nick Arlett

At which point, Susan Hall, the Conservative candidate for Mayor of London in tomorrow’s elections, went out and signed up as a member for another of the groups: Bexley Say No To ULEZ.

Hall was already a member of six of the “vile racism” groups.

Hall will have signed up for her seventh cesspit group around the time that she was attending a rally in Wallington where she physically embraced Nick Arlett, a far-right activist and supporter of Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson.

Nick nicked: Tommy Robinson fanboy Arlett on one of multiple occasions he has been arrested

Arlett runs “Action against ULEZ” and has promoted the efforts of “blade runners”, a small group of people who have caused hundreds of thousands of pounds of criminal damage to public property by destroying ULEZ cameras and infrastructure.

The contents of the “Bexley Say No To ULEZ Expansion” group include:

• A YouTube video alleging that “Islamists” were “taking over Britain”
• Abuse towards Khan, including a post that read: “Seriously can’t believe Khan hasn’t been taken out yet… if dark forces can take out Princess Diana I’m sure they can take out this money grabbing little parasite”
• Examples of vandalism: one user shared a photo of an enforcement van with its tyres slashed, noting “two flat tyres and sprayed camera”. Another user responded: “Well done to whoever that was”
• Numerous Islamophobic comments, including one commenter calling Khan a “terrorist sympathiser”, and another saying that the London mayor “will see a big upsurge in public feelings and possibly major riots, mosques burnt down and innocent Muslims unable to walk the streets”

Anyone who has accessed any of these pages, from Bexley to Croydon to Bromley, will be familiar with this kind of “cesspit” material.

All of the secretive anti-ULEZ groups are closely guarded “private pages”, meaning that the administrators vet anyone who asks to join. They will also routinely have to approve content submitted.

The Greenpeace investigation identified 36 groups that appear to be separate grassroots movements opposing the expansion of the ultra-low emission zone to reduce air pollution. “They do not say they were set up by the Conservatives as part of a coordinated political campaign, but it has been found they were set up by Conservative staff and activists,” the Grauniad reported today.

The Labour MP for Brent Central, Dawn Butler, raised the matter in the House of Commons on Monday and wrote to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley.

“I believe that many of these posts constitute racially or religiously aggravated offences,” Butler wrote.

“I find it shocking that these potential crimes have been committed in Facebook groups where several prominent Conservative politicians are active members.

“Conservative candidate for Mayor of London, Susan Hall, has yet to explain why she is a member of groups peddling hate in this way, and Londoners will be concerned she appears to be condoning this behaviour.”

Ami McCarthy, a political campaigner at Greenpeace, said: “Any respectable politician would have issued an apology and left these Facebook groups as soon as the racism, Islamophobia and posts inciting criminal damage were exposed.”

Party of law and order: Chris Philp is among almost 2,000 members of a secret Facebook group that regularly applauds acts of criminal damage

But just like Hall, Croydon’s Perry and Philp have remained members of the Facebook group that lists one of them as an “expert”.

Perry is now trying to claim that he did not “play an active role” in moderating the page.

Perry has said that he disagrees with “any and all criminal damage, violence, and discriminatory speech” and the group rules were clear that hate speech and encouraging illegal activity was not allowed.

But as Inside Croydon exposed six months ago, the Croydon group rules were amended to include such disclaimer only after Mayor Perry and his gofers first received enquiries from journalists.

Inside Croydon readers who have seen Perry’s piss-poor excuses for failing to act against examples of criminal vandalism and racism exhibited on the Facebook page where he is admin and “expert” have described them as “Bollocks!”

One reader commented, “If Perry and his sidekicks (including his son, William) were sincere and truthful about keeping it clean, they would have used their powers as moderators to kick racists and criminals off their page.

“They didn’t. Why not?”

Given that other, similar groups in the Tory network have included threats to kill Sadiq Khan, Dawn Butler’s point of order, raised in the Commons (“How can we make sure the Government are investigating that?” Butler asked), really ought to be answered by the policing minister.

And that, of course, is “Congo” Chris Philp.

Read more: Council law officer sent complaint over Perry’s Facebook group
Read more: Perry should apologise for anti-ULEZ Facebook group says MP
Read more: Tory minister is member of online group that salutes vandals

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