UKIP stood by a former parliamentary candidate last night after she was accused by campaigners of plotting to spark a race war.

Anne Marie Waters, who stood in Lewisham East on May 7, is named by Hope Not Hate as the organiser of an exhibition of cartoons of the prophet Mohammed.

A report prepared for the group alleges that she discussed with three other far-right activists how the cartoons could be used to “incite a violent backlash.”

A Ukip spokesman said Ms Waters admitted meeting the men but insisted they had not discussed the exhibition.

Asked whether the party would investigate the claims, he said: “Why would we? There’s nothing to investigate until they provide evidence rather than claims.”

He added: “I’m sure people like Nick Lowles (Hope Not Hate chief executive) would have loved her when she was a Labour activist, but now she’s a Ukipper, she’s evil.”

Hope Not Hate said, however, that it had a first-hand account of the meeting from a witness and pledged to offer evidence in a blog by Jim Dowson, who was at the meeting.

During the general election campaign, Ms Waters was filmed telling a meeting that “a lot of people need to be deported” and “many mosques need to be closed down.”

Nonetheless, Ukip said yesterday that she had “stayed within the bounds of reason hitherto.”

Ms Waters began her drift to the right after twice failing to be selected as a Labour candidate, according to the Hope Not Hate report.