Comedian had been exposed over antisemitic posts

Comedian Mark Bittlestone has failed to be elected to London's Lambeth Council after being exposed for promoting antisemitic messages online.

The stand-up secured 1,313 votes in the close-fought ward of Clapham Town, placing him fifth out of the 15 candidates.

After a recount, the ward today returned two Labour councillors, Linda Bray (with 1,631 votes) and Patrick O'Donnell (with 1,523) as well as Jonathan Bartley for the Greens (1,451).

Labour nonetheless lost control of the council, winning 29 seats to Labour's 26, with the Lib Dems picking up eight. Before the election, Labour had all but nine of the borough's 63 councillors.

During the campaign the Daily Mail. went through Bittlestone's  social media accounts and found he had reposted material suggesting the October 7 atrocities were a covert 'false flag' attack.

He shared  other posts describing Israel as a 'colony of inbreds, rapists and thieves’ and claims that Israel should be invaded as it has no right to exist.

Bittlestone deleted all his social media profiles in the wake of the exposé.

Chortle approached the Lambeth Green Party for comment when the revelations first emerged, but they have not responded.

Bittlestone has previously spoken of coming from a 'privileged' background, attending King's College School in Wimbledon, where fees are around £30,000 a year.

He then went to Cambridge University where he was joined the Footlights comedy troupe, and took master's degrees in business management and film. He now teaches history to sixth form students in Vauxhall.

His profile on the Green Party website tells how he turned to politics when ‘Israel’s genocide in Gaza tore a hole in his conception of the world – a world he didn’t find very funny anymore. ‘ 

In comedy, Bittlestone was in a double act called Llaugh, which made the Leicester Square Theatre Sketch Off final in 2019 and 2020.

He performed his debut solo hour, I Need a Straight Guy at the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe, which was shortlisted for Best Newcomer at the ISH Edinburgh Comedy Awards. He also previously hosted the Dirty Laundry podcast, along with Jamie D'Souza.

Published: 9 May 2026