The video was set to Michael Jackson's 'They Don't Care About Us' and featured the original lyrics, which include antisemitic terms like 'Jew me' and 'kick me, kike me'. It was branded 'Back Basildon Stop Reform' and labelled with the Basildon Labour logo. The words 'Jew' and 'Kike' were posted in bold text over headshots of Conservative councillors at Basildon Borough Council, with a caption reading: 'The Billericay Tories will run Basildon Council again in 35 days time if Reform UK win enough seats to put them back in charge', accompanied by an hourglass emoji. The video was allegedly up for around three hours before being removed.
Andy Barnes, Leader of Basildon Conservatives, reported the incident to the police after being alerted by a member of the public. Andy Barnes said that Councillor Callaghan seems to have given no thought to the hurt and distress publicly posting these will have caused, to a Jewish community already under siege by increasing hostility and attack.
I found the comments 'absolutely appalling' and the councillor's actions were 'inexplicable'.
Richard Holden, the Conservative MP for Basildon and Billericay, called on Sir Keir Starmer to remove the Labour councillor from the party over the comments. Lord Pickles, co-chair of the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation, said he found the comments 'absolutely appalling' and the councillor's actions were 'inexplicable'.
If this guy is a member of the Labour Party 24 hours from now, he isn't serious. I think it's as simple as that.