Mhairi Fraser, the Conservative candidate selected for the ultra-safe seat of Epsom and Ewell, first came to public attention after her appearance at the much-mocked launch of the Popular Conservatism AKA PopCon conference, the latest in string of right-wing pressure groups hoping to revive the fortunes of the small-c conservatism and retake control of the big-C Conservative Party.
Among the star-studded line-up, which included the UK’s shortest-serving Prime Minister Liz Truss and the soon-to-defect Lee Anderson MP was Mhairi Fraser, who used the platform to complain about the COVID-19 lockdowns and “nanny state” policies regarding health and climate change.
Her appearance was followed by revelations that Fraser had revealed herself as an enthusiastic supporter of Donald Trump’s campaign to become President in 2016, though an unnamed friend told the Times that her views of eight years ago were not reflective of her current outlook.
Fraser had taken steps to avoid scrutiny of her social media activity, putting her original Twitter account into private mode and setting up a new one for her campaign.
However, the traces of her social media footprint that HOPE not hate have been able to put together show that she has a long history of praising radical right leaders Donald Trump and Nigel Farage, as well as engaging with more extreme far-right influencers on social media.
Flirting With The Far Right
Analysis of Frasers’ account show that she has retweeted posts by a whole range of anti-Muslim and radical right figures, including the Infowars host and far-right conspiracy theorist Paul Joseph Watson, alt-right US influencers Jack Posobiec and Daryush Valizadeh AKA RooshV and then-leader of the anti-Muslim party For Britain Anne Marie Waters.
One tweet from the latter that Fraser retweeted was a description of veiled Muslim women as being covered “in a black sack and liv[ing] as slaves to religion” and declared that feminism had “gone full halal”:
Fraser has also defended the notorious anti-Muslim activist Tommy Robinson, AKA Stephen Lennon, on multiple occasions.
When Lennon faced criticism for responding to the appalling terror attack on the Manchester Arena in 2017 by declaring the event “a big game changer massive!” and falsely claimed that another attack was taking place at Oldham hospital on the same night, Fraser leapt to his defence by saying that any criticism of him reflected the “brainwashed insanity” of the UK:
A sign of the brainwashed insanity of this nation that any anger is being directed at @TRobinsonNewEra and not at a terrorist child killer.
Tweeted by Fraser on 23 May 2017
Worse would come in June that year, when Fraser again felt compelled to defend Lennon again after he received pushback for his shameful response to the van attack near Finsbury Park Mosque of 19 June that left an elderly Muslim man dead.
Lennon immediately took to Twitter to condemn Finsbury Park Mosque for historical cases of radicalisation there, for which he was roundly condemned by commentators including Piers Morgan.
Fraser would tweet in Lennon’s defence three times during the angry debate between Morgan and Lennon that followed, including one alarming retweet of a post from a support of Lennon’s that condoned his behaviour as “extremism in defence of liberty”.
Trump
Shortly after Fraser’s appearance at the PopCon conference, a news story from 2016 resurfaced in which Fraser had revealed herself as an enthusiastic supporter of Donald Trump’s campaign to become President. Fraser told STV News that she had flown to the USA to be there for his campaign and had “never been as excited about a political candidate” and found him “incredibly refreshing” for his belief that the USA was “sleep-walking into a politically correct-driven decline that it won’t be able to get itself out of”.
“I’ve never been as excited about a political candidate as I am about Trump – I think he is a real change-maker – and I hope to be there to see him voted in as president-elect of the United States.”
When pushed on Trump’s infamous “Grab them by the pussy” and “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. […] They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists” comments, Fraser rejected the very obvious implications of his comments:
“I don’t think he’s a sexist and I don’t think he’s a racist […] hiis recorded ‘pussygate’ comments were very unsavoury, sure, but I certainly don’t think they amounted to an admission of sexual assault […] I find it much more offensive that people assume women will […] vote en masse for Hillary because someone said ‘pussy’.
Her defence of Trump’s comments on “Pussygate” were particularly disingenuous; having acknowledged that Trump’s comments were “unsavoury”, she went on to suggest that the offence caused was due to people who were “dying to be offended at anything these days – they really seem to get off on being outraged” and were objecting to his use of the term “pussy”, rather than his declaration that men of his wealth could “do anything […] grab them by the pussy”:
I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything. When you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything”
While reporting these quotes in February 2024, The Times quoted a friend of Fraser’s as saying that these quotes were eight years out of date and did not reflect her current thinking:
“These views were expressed eight years ago. A lot has changed since then and so, naturally, have her views.”
Yet our analysis of Fraser’s social media footprint reveal that her idolisation of Trump lasted well into his term in office. In June 2019 she retweeted a post by another user which referred to Trump as part of “The Holy Trinity of left-wing grief”, and three months earlier had retweeted another one thanking Trump for “trying to focus the minds of those treacherous bastards in our parliament”.
Trump
Retweeted by Fraser on 3 June 2019
Farage
Brexit
The holy trinity of left wing grief. Beautiful, just beautiful
President Trump is trying to focus the minds of those treacherous bastards in our parliament. Thank you @POTUS
Retweeted by Fraser on 14 March 2019
Brexit
Epsom and Ewell’s vote in the 2016 EU referendum was a mirror image of the national result, with Remain narrowly winning on a 52% – 48% finish, and while the electorate seems willing to put the divisions of Brexit behind them, the relish with which Fraser took part in the acrimonious debates might rankle some of erstwhile Remain voters in her constituency.
One tweet retweeted by Fraser in September 2019 complained that Remainers weren’t “shutting the fuck up”:
We’ve had 3 years of Remainers not shutting the fuck up about how brexit is the worst thing ever and Leave voters are all thick and racist, doing everything they can to overturn the referendum result. Now they won’t shut the fuck up about how they’re being ‘silenced’. Jesus.
Retweeted by Fraser, 12 September 2019
Fraser was an early supporter of the Brexit Party, declaring on 14 March 2019 that she would “relish” voting for the party at the upcoming European Elections, and later retweeted a post that called for a “hardcore Leaver alliance of proper Tories, the DUP and the Brexit Party” to take power.
“Thought I would never relish casting a ballot as much as my one to Leave the EU, but I cannot wait to vote for Nigel’s Brexit Party.
Tweeted by Fraser on 14 March 2019
“Time for Farage to show some balls. If I was him I’d be marching up Downing St and banging the door of No10 this morning. Let’s have a hardcore Leaver alliance of proper Tories, the DUP and the Brexit Party.”
Tweeted by Fraser on 4 September 2019
Fraser had also expressed gratitude to UKIP for “keeping the Conservative Party where it should be, on the right”:
UKIP is dead, which is a crying shame – as it was one of the only things that kept the Conservative Party where it should be, on the right
Tweeted by Fraser on 15 Jan 2018
MEGA: Make Epsom Great Again?
While Epsom & Ewell is a nominally safe seat, with a 30% Conservative majority at the last election, it is important that voters are aware of the character of their chosen candidate. Only then can they decide if they wish to be represented by a someone who flirts with the far-right and appears to identify as much with Trump, Nigel Farage and UKIP as she does with the Conservative Party.
When voters go to the polls on July 4th, they will choose between a record number of candidates. This year, 4,515 people are contesting parliamentary…
