In February 2020, Hall liked a tweet depicting Enoch Powell with the words “It’s never too late to get London back”.
Tory mayoral candidate Susan Hall endured a bruising interview on LBC over her disgraceful Twitter history, which has included liking Islamophobic tweets aimed at Sadiq Khan as well as liking tweets featuring pictures of Enoch Powell.
Hall, who is a member of the London assembly, was chosen by the Tories to take on Labour incumbent Sadiq Khan at the election in May. She previously faced immediate criticism for her past views after tweets emerged showing her support for Donald Trump as well as for Liz Truss’ disastrous mini-budget. Hall also previously equated the storming of the US Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump with people opposing Brexit.
In February 2020, Hall liked a tweet depicting Enoch Powell with the words “It’s never too late to get London back”. The graphic is jarringly similar to a page once housed on the BNP’s website.
In August 2020 Hall liked a post suggesting that Powell should have an honorary inclusion in a commemorative pack of Prime Minister-themed playing cards.
Hall has also endorsed Islamophobic abuse aimed at Sadiq Khan. In January 2019, she retweeted a post from the far-right Katie Hopkins which referred to the Mayor as “the nipple height mayor of Londonistan”, replying “Thank you Katie!” in a now deleted tweet. “Londonistan” is a term frequently used by the far right to assert that London is being taken over by Muslims.
Asked by LBC presenter Nick Ferrari about her replying ‘thank you’ to Katie Hopkin’s Islamophobic tweet on Khan, Hall said she ‘couldn’t remember’ doing it.
A stunned Ferrari responded: “You can’t remember doing it?”, to which Hall replied: “Nick, I used to tweet all the time.”
Ferrari then went on: “Do you remember liking a tweet that had the language ‘It’s never too late to get London back’ with a picture of Enoch Powell?”
Hall said: “Yes. And I’ve explained that it’s never too late, which is what I’m saying to you.
“It is not too late to make London better again. We’ve got traffic jams left, right and centre we’ve got a ULEZ expansion.”
Asked if she was a fan of Enoch Powell, Hall replied ‘of course not’ and added: “If you’re a serial tweeter, you tend to go through liking all sorts of things. You sometimes read things and don’t see. If anybody is offended then obviously I would apologise.”
Ferrari replied: “You can’t see that it would be offensive? I have to explain to you the offence?”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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