Plymouth University Tory group suspended over T-shirts

The Conservative Party has said members identified will be suspended

A university Conservative society has been suspended after a photo appearing to show members sporting racist and anti-Semitic messages emerged.

The picture, taken at a nightclub in Plymouth, shows a group wearing blue T-shirts daubed with black marker pen.

Some in the picture appear to have a Star of David drawn on their necks, while one appears to have a Hitler-style moustache scrawled on his lip.

The Conservative Party vowed to suspend any members identified in the photo.

According to the Mirror, one person in the photo had an abusive anti-NHS message written on his T-shirt.

Other messages written on the group's skin and clothing were said to reference right-wing figure Enoch Powell, Donald Trump, Tony Blair and Soviet Russia.

'Bar for life'

The picture, believed to have been taken at a party, is said to have caused outrage when it was widely shared on the University of Plymouth campus.

It is believed to have been taken as the group celebrated the beginning of the new term.

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Writing on Twitter, Conservative MP for Plymouth Moor View Johnny Mercer condemned the photo, and said the party should "eject and bar for life" those responsible.

Plymouth's student union said: "We totally condemn behaviour of this kind along with all forms of racism and anti-Semitism."

The University of Plymouth said it "does not tolerate anti-Semitic or racist behaviour under any circumstance and will take disciplinary action in line with procedures in the event of incidents such as this".

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