I didn’t complain about anyone else as I wanted to go for an acknowledgement of the misrepresentation from the newspaper that had the biggest readership. By getting them to change their story I was successful.

I do not want to go into this area any further except to say that I stand my my assertion that Hayek was right about the socialist roots of Nazism. Something that people who understand authoritarian big governments would generally agree with.

I’ve also put a complaint into the Press Complaints Commission regarding the Daily Mail article. It will be of political as well as personal interest how they respond to the gross misrepresentation I was subjected to.

In the meantime I thank all of you who phoned, texted, emailed, direct messaged, blogged and tweeted about me – practically all was supportive. It was quite humbling to see what  a great bunch of people my friends and Conservative colleagues are. Thank you to all. Each and every one of you. 

Editor,

I was horrified to have been involved in a media frenzy that gave many people the wrong impression about what I stand for and what I believe in. I’ve often heard about media mis-reporting, but this is my first personal experience of it.

In summary, I must have (without even remembering later on) lazily re-tweeted someone else’s tweet that used a quote from Hitler in 1927 stating that they (Nazis) were socialists. As a Conservative who married a Jewish man, and who has been active in anti-genocide and human rights campaigns (including in particular Sri Lanka), it always jars when the BNP and neo-Nazis are described as right wing, or far right, when the evidence from history is contrary to that. That was probably why I clicked the re-tweet button.

Much to my horror and disgust some of the initial headlines seemed to indicate some kind of endorsement of a Hitler quote. As someone who is a longstanding human rights and anti-genocide campaigner (and has a long track record on human rights campaigns in Sri Lanka) this has been the most shocking bit of the whole episode.

The reporting of the twitter incident on the internet has been much better, not distorting story as the initial media reports did; making it clear that it was a re-tweet of someone else’s tweet about the early socialist roots in Nazism. I acknowledge it was a poorly worded tweet so I shouldn’t even have re-tweeted that particular tweet; but a re-tweet isn’t considered an endorsement but merely a request for followers to take a look. As I said right from the beginning, no mainstream party should be classed as having anything in common with either the BNP, the Nazis or other racist parties.

I have been overwhelmed with the levels of support I have received from friends, colleagues, politicians, bloggers and the public. I would like to thank them all. Some of this has come from other people from many political and non-political backgrounds who re-tweet things for information only and not in support of the thing they are re-tweeting. The majority of the support however has come from fellow politicians and human rights campaigners who agree that we should be able to discuss the roots of Nazism to try to learn the lessons of history. The phrase “never again” will be meaningless if we don’t remember history and try to understand the psychology behind it.

Over the weekend I received support from a ConservativeHome article:

http://conservativehome.blogs.com/parliament/2013/02/rachel-frosh-should-not-have-been-removed-from-the-candidates-list-for-saying-hitler-was-a-socialist.html#idc-cover

and Iain Dale’s article:

http://www.iaindale.com/posts/2013/02/15/why-rachel-frosh-is-right-fascism-is-intrinsically-left-wing

There are also supportive articles in the Commentator

http://www.thecommentator.com/article/2725/tory_candidate_suspended_for_linking_nazism_and_socialism

The Spectator:

http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/douglas-murray/2013/02/national-socialism-the-clues-in-the-name/

and the Telegraph:

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100203103/the-conservative-party-where-telling-the-truth-is-a-sackable-offence/

and

http://my.telegraph.co.uk/slightly_grumpy/cutley/16256676/an-appalling-injustice/

and

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/100203076/so-total-is-the-lefts-cultural-ascendancy-that-we-dare-not-mention-the-socialist-roots-of-fascism/

My own two posts on it are on here

http://rachelfrosh.com/statement-on-the-retweet/

and here

http://rachelfrosh.com/if-i-cant-speak-about-the-roots-of-nazism-then-who-can/

In summary, I must have (without even remembering later on) lazily re-tweeted a tweet that used a quote from Hitler where he stated that they (Nazis) were socialists. As someone who converted to and married a Jewish man, and who has been active in anti-genocide and human rights campaigns (including in particular Sri Lanka), it always jars when the BNP and neo-nazis are described as right wing, or far right, when the evidence from history is contrary to that. That was probably why I clicked the re-tweet button.

I could stand behind the defence that a re-tweet isn’t an endorsement (I’ve since double checked, and it isn’t), but merely a request for followers to take a look, but I acknowledge it was a poorly worded tweet so I shouldn’t even have re-tweeted that particular tweet.

The reason I resigned as DPCC was because the role requires a large degree of partnership work, convincing local councils (including Labour controlled ones) to work with us for the benefit of the population to prevent crime and anti-social behaviour by tackling the wider causes of crime. I felt that I could not continue in that role and at the same time defend myself in the regard that the tweet was about exploring the socialist roots of Nazism – nothing else. It came over as insulting the Labour party and I therefore felt that it would damage the PCC’s work with local councils. (However I re-iterate the point that the modern Labour party and no other mainstream party bear no resemblance to any fascist or racist party). In regard to the party’s candidates’ list, I am sure I will be back on that soon, when all the facts are reviewed.

I have been overwhelmed with the levels of support I have received. Some of this has come from other people from many backgrounds who re-tweet things for information and not in support of the thing they are re-tweeting. The majority of the support however has come from fellow Conservatives who agree that the roots of Nazism lay in traditional socialism and that we should be able to discuss the roots of Nazism to learn the lessons of history. The phrase “never again” will be meaningless if we don’t remember history and try to understand the psychology behind it.

I hope the press will be able to run a more positive and balanced report on the whole incident in their future editions.

UPDATE: A further blog from a left wing blogger recalling my campaigns against the BNP:

http://barneteye.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/focus-on-harrow-sad-demise-of-dr-rachel.html

I have always had a strong interest in ensuring that the lessons of the Shoah (Holocaust) will never be forgotten, and that people are able to speak out when they see human rights abuses around the world. That is why I have been so active in highlighting genocidal human rights abuses for instance in Sri Lanka against the minority Tamil population – later covered in the Channel 4 documentary “Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields”. I campaigned with the British Tamils Forum, the British Tamil Conservatives and Act Now. This was something that the UN only officially properly condemned long after an estimated 40,000+ civilians lost their lives. Interestingly of the Conservative MPs that took most interest and have got involved in campaigning against human rights abuses against Tamils in Sri Lanka, it is the Jewish MPs  Lee Scott and Robert Halfon.

I have over the years attended many Holocaust Remembrance Days, have campaigned with the group “Nothing British about the BNP”, am a member of the Conservative Friends of Israel and been involved in many other anti-racist campaigns over time.

So, if I can’t speak about the roots of Nazism, then who can?

I recognise there are different views about whether National Socialism has roots in Socialism. I gave my views on this yesterday. But to somehow be vilified and misrepresented in the press for wanting to explore the roots of Nazism – so that it can never happen again -  is beyond understanding. The Holocaust and Nazism should never be forgotten, and research into the history and the psychology behind it MUST continue. The debate about how it could have happened must not be brushed under the carpet because it is politically dangerous to mention Hitler.

Which is why it is a sad day, not just for me, but for the world that a Jewish human rights campaigner gets the headlines “Top cop quits after she retweets Adolf Hitler quote” from The Mirror.

In regard to the Conservative Party, they have done the right thing.  The original tweet by someone called @Fenrir1 was a bit immature. I wouldn’t have used those words personally, and if I’d applied the brain more I probably wouldn’t have done a retweet but a reply instead. A retweet isn’t an endorsement – and I wasn’t endorsing his quote, but the discussion point that in 1927 Hitler was calling his party socialist. CCHQ are right to suspend me from the candidates list (I’m still a loyal member), pending finding the out all the facts. The Party should be sensitive on issues like this. I would rather they over-react than under react. I am however very calm about it as I know that fundamentally we are the fairest party in British politics, and that when they see what I said, didn’t say, and what I believe in and what I’ve done about human rights over the years, they will re-instate me.