Labour has suspended one of its candidates after reports that he shared pro-Russian material online.
The shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said she “hadn’t heard of” the candidate Andy Brown until the disciplinary action was taken, but said it was “absolutely right” for Labour to swiftly remove support for him.
Brown is fighting for the Aberdeenshire North and Moray East constituency against the Scottish Conservative leader, Douglas Ross, and the Scottish National party’s Seamus Logan.
His suspension just over two weeks before the general election means he will still appear next to the Labour logo on the ballot paper on 4 July but will be an independent if elected.
After the Salisbury novichok poisonings, Brown allegedly shared an article on social media in April 2018 from the Russian state media outlet RT, which claimed that the “toxin” used in the Salisbury poisonings was “never produced in Russia, but was in service in the US, UK, and other Nato states”.
Dawn Sturgess, 44, died after being exposed to the nerve agent novichok, which had been left in a discarded perfume bottle in Amesbury, Wiltshire, in July 2018. The inquiry into her death is due to start in October.
It had also been reported by the Press and Journal that Brown shared a social media post implying that the then prime minister Theresa May was hiding vital information about the poisonings.
Brown had also shared a post in 2018 that appeared to downplay allegations of antisemitism against Labour. The post featured a quote from a Jewish historian that said “the real issue … is that rightwing Jews in the Labour party and outside the party object to the fact that Jeremy Corbyn is a consistent supporter of Palestinian rights”.
Reeves told Sky News: “I hadn’t heard of this guy until this morning and I’m very, very pleased that I will hopefully not have to hear of him again because he’s been suspended as a Labour candidate. That is absolutely right. We’ve taken the swift action. As soon as these postings came to light, we got rid of him.
“People who don’t share our values in the changed Labour party are kicked out of the Labour party, while the Conservative party continues to harbour people like Liz Truss, who has caused so much damage to the lives of working people up and down the country.”
A Scottish Labour spokesperson told the BBC: “Andy Brown has been administratively suspended from the Labour party pending investigation. We have taken the decision to withdraw support from a parliamentary candidate during a general election.
“Anas Sarwar and Keir Starmer have changed the Labour party and said that every candidate and MP would operate to the highest standards. This action shows that they meant it.”
On Wednesday evening, Brown rejected the claims and suggested he had been “hung out to dry”. He told the BBC: “I didn’t share those. Where they’ve been shared from or how has someone accessed my account and shared them, it may have been corrupted at some point – but honestly, I did not share those.”
Pressed on the possibility that he had forgotten sending the posts, he said: “No, I definitely didn’t make that. I would never like these at all. It’s not the sort of comments I would comment on.
“Nobody has checked this. It is quite shocking that I’ve been treated this way. I’ve been hung out to dry, basically.”
