A TORY candidate fighting the Smithwick by-election in Falmouth following the death of Candy Atherton has been accused of sharing sick Nazi themed memes, anti-immigrant jokes and showing support for far-right demonstrations on his social media feeds.

The Facebook and other social media posts by Conservative candidate Richard Cunningham were revealed by the Cornish Stuff website which says a source has been taking screenshots of the posts over a number of years.

He is accused of posting a picture of a man in a Nazi uniform saying ‘I wear your Grandad’s clothes’ in 2014 with the tag “Political correctness be damned – this made me chuckle too much” then reposting it in 2015 in his memories saying “Apparently I was just as sick and twisted 365 days ago as I am today.”

He is also accused of reposting anti immigrant and white privilege posts.

Mr Cunningham has been out campaigning in the streets of Smithwick this month with local MPs including Sarah Newton, Derek Thomas, Scott Mann and Sheryl Murray.

A Conservative Party spokesperson for Cunningham’s campaign issued a brief statement to Cornish Stuff on his behalf. It said: “While we accept that these posts were made in bad taste, we also note that they are not Richard’s words, and were shared from other social media accounts or sites. These shares, taken from his personal and private account, were made over two years ago, before Richard was a member of the Conservative Party, and before he had considered running for elected office.”