AN OUTSPOKEN Worcestershire County Council candidate has hit out after being dubbed a ‘nasty little Nazi’ on a defaced election leaflet posted to his home.
Matt Snape revealed his upset at receiving the returned leaflet which also included a homophobic slur, and confirmed he had contacted the police to report a hate crime.
The former Conservative district councillor resigned from the group in January 2018 after retweeting a joke that used a picture of Adolf Hitler.
Despite being chosen by the local party to fight the Evesham South seat at May’s poll, Mr Snape was overlooked by the Tories in a row over further social media posts criticising the Government.
As a result, Mr Snape chose to fight the seat for the Reform Party – the former Brexit Party once fronted by Nigel Farage.
“I never experienced this type of intimidation when I was a Conservative and I feel like the person who did this automatically believes the Reform Party deserve to be associated with Nazism just because they campaigned for a no-deal Brexit at one stage,” he said.
Mr Snape campaigned for the UK to leave the European Union at the 2016 but told the Observer ‘being pro-Brexit doesn’t automatically make you a Nazi.
“I know I have been critical of the Conservatives and some of their candidates on social media, but this is a new low I have never experienced before and that no political candidate should ever have to experience,” he said.
“It was upsetting for both me and my fiancée, especially as my fiancée had nothing to do with politics before she met me. It made us feel unsafe in our home.”
The doctored leaflet also feature a Swastika and Mr Snape urged the person responsible to come forward to the police but vowed to continue his election bid.
“I also find it ironic they referred to me as a Nazi when they used Nazi-style tactics to intimidate me,” he said.
“The person who did this clearly doesn’t understand Nazism either because they referred to me as one of Farage’s ‘rent boys’ and the Nazis were a homophobic party.”
