NORTHWICH Labour MP Mike Amesbury has apologised after it was revealed he had shared an antisemitic ‘meme’ on Facebook back in 2013.

The meme, which was created by conspiracy website ‘illuminatiagenda.com’, showed a caricature, antisemitic image of Father Christmas along with a message.

The message reads: “Remember to support the banks and corporations this Christmas in their continued efforts to enslave mankind, by spending money you haven’t got on things you don’t need.”

Activist David Collier confronted the Weaver Vale MP through social media, saying: “Have you shared this vile antisemitic post from the page of a conspiracy theorist? It’s archived, just wondering what is it with your party and these vile ideologies?”

Northwich Guardian:

Mike firstly responded denying that he had shared the post.

He said: “I did not send this vile nonsense and never would. The profile picture is of me and my son when we as a family went to Barcelona in 2015, curious that this claims to be from 2013.”

However, he later issued an apology through his Facebook page, describing the image as ‘appalling’, but maintained he could not remember sharing the image.

He said: “This evening a post share from 2013 was brought to my attention. I apologise unreservedly for this terrible error. I genuinely don't recall sharing this image and I'm mortified that I did so.

“This appalling image contains an antisemitic caricature and a reference to the “illuminati” conspiracy theory. I would never have intentionally shared such antisemitic tropes and I am sincerely sorry that I did.

“I have always been committed to opposing antisemitism and I always will be. In November last year I went to Auschwitz with the Holocaust Education Trust and local schools from my constituency.

“This moving experience reaffirmed my commitment to working with the Jewish community to increase education and awareness about antisemitism and to fight this evil wherever it is found.”

After Mike’s apology was posted, David posted a series of tweets saying he hopes ‘Mike takes this as a lesson of how normalised this has become.’

He said: “I did not find the post myself, but as you can probably imagine- get sent stuff. The post itself was vile and the account it came from truly horrendous- but It is vital we remain able to differentiate between errors and the enemy.

“Antisemitism is not a post or tweet it is a racist mindset and a conspiracy theory. It’s a dangerous virus that has recently mutated once again. 

“I have as much experience as anyone in hunting haters and most of the time I know what I will find before I look. Antisemites have themes, types and these are blatantly expressed in different world visions. 

“The danger is that antisemitism is entering the mainstream- becoming normalised- and Mike’s post is evidence of that. The point that something so vile no longer registers in the way it should.

“This isn’t a witch hunt, this is a fight against antisemites. One post, one tweet is a breadcrumb - nothing more. That is the way these things must be seen.

“I hope Mike takes this as a lesson of how normalised this has become, how far this virus is spreading and he works with others to eradicate this disease from his party sand wider society.

“Beyond that and in the absence of other evidence- IMHO [in my honest opinion] people should take the apology as a sincere one and move on. We need to fight and eradicate antisemitism- with a clear head and without an ounce of vindictiveness in our bones.”