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LONDON: Candidates standing for the right-wing Reform Party in the upcoming UK general election have been found to have liked Islamophobic content on social media, .

Andrea Whitehead, who is standing for election in the northern city of Leeds, liked a post on Facebook that described London Mayor Sadiq Khan as an “undercover Jihadist not working for the English.”

Another candidate, Craig Birtwistle, also liked a post calling for a “complete ban on Islam,” which added: “Let them leave if they don’t like it.”

Ken Ferguson, a candidate standing in the northwest of England, liked a post containing an Islamophobic joke about Muslim men marrying 12-year-olds.

When confronted about liking the tweet, Ferguson said it was “appreciation of a good joke from an obviously satirical account,” the Times reported.

Other candidates for the party, led by Nigel Farage as honorary president, were also found to have shared and liked racist content, anti-vaccination and climate change misinformation, while one party member posted a defense of convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell, who assisted Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse young girls.

In response, Reform said it was withdrawing support for only two of the candidates, neither of whom were found to have shared the Islamophobic content, and instead accused the newspaper of conducting “gotcha journalism.”

The investigation was a “clear example of the depths to which The Times and the chattering class around Westminster stoop,” it added.

“This sort of juvenile gotcha journalism is why millions of decent ordinary people around the country are so fed up and disgusted with the operations of the political and media class.

“We will be looking into a number of the allegations but natural justice means we cannot just respond to out of context part quotations sent by a journalist at such late notice.”

A director at the anti-racism campaign group Hope Not Hate said Reform had a duty to prevent people standing who shared or espoused discriminatory content.

“Reform UK have been exposed countless times for standing extreme candidates who are unfit for public office,” Georgie Laming said. “It’s essential that this vile racism is called out and not allowed to fester and grow, otherwise we could wake up on July 5 with far-right MPs in seats across the country.”

Reform removed two candidates in April for similar remarks online.

Pete Addis was suspended after comments he made online were uncovered by the Mail on Sunday newspaper in which he referred to “brown babies.”

The party also removed Amodio Amato after he said that London was an “Islamic state” and that there would be “a Muslim army run by Sadiq Khan.”