DHAKA: A Tory council candidate has resigned from the party with immediate effect after posting anti-Islamic and homophobic comments on Twitter.

David Bishop, a candidate in Brentwood South, Essex, apologised after retweeting messages, including one that claimed Islam was the religion of rape.

‘I have let myself and my party down,’ Bishop said in a statement, reports the BBC.

It comes after a UKIP council candidate, who tweeted that Islam was ‘evil’, was suspended from the party.

Bishop, who is also a DJ in the Brentwood area, retweeted one message on 13 April that read, ‘How CAN a gay guy keep a straight face?’

BDST: 2127 HRS, MAY 04, 2014