Two prominent east European allies of the Tories at the centre of a bitter row over their far-right links will be attending the Conservatives’ annual conference in Manchester next week.

David Miliband, the foreign secretary, yesterday accused Michal Kaminski, the rightwing Polish leader of the Conservatives’ caucus in the European parliament, of having an antisemitic and neo-Nazi past. He also said the rightwing Latvian party led by Roberts Zile, For Fatherland and Freedom, was guilty of celebrating Hitler’s Waffen-SS.

Leading Jewish figures have condemned the invitation, describing the actions of the Latvian party as “vile”. The two men are to take part in a conference fringe meeting on the future of Europe. Both strongly deny the charges levelled by Miliband.

Kaminski, a member of an extreme nationalist Polish party in his youth and a close ally of the president, Lech Kaczynski, is to speak at the session on Tuesday, which is also being attended by the Tories’ Europe spokesman, Mark Francois, Conservative sources said.

…more at The Guardian

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