London: UK Independence Party’s (Ukip’s) official General Election candidates have been caught posting racist and offensive material on the internet, revealing disturbing links between Nigel Farage’s prospective members of parliament (MP) and far-right groups.

The Mail on Sunday can reveal that at least six Ukip candidates have circulated or endorsed material from the British National Party and other nationalist splinter groups with racist neo-Nazi agendas.

Ukip last night launched an investigation into the offensive media found that included a racist BNP cartoon depicting violent stereotypes of black people, Muslims and Sikhs, and online links to extremist groups Britain First, English Defence League and Infidels of Britain.

The revelations will provoke uproar on the very weekend that Ukip held its Spring Conference, with leaders disassociating the Eurosceptic party with any hint of extremism within its ranks ahead of the May 7 Election.

Bill Walker, the party’s candidate in Aldershot, Hampshire, reported a picture of a racist cartoon featuring a black man holding guns with “Kill Whitey” on his T-shirt, a Sikh man holding a knife with “Honour Killing Rocks” on his T-shirt and a Muslim man holding a grenade and a Quran in his hands with “Death to the Infidels” scrawled on the front of his outfit.

A man in a suit standing on a “British Media” soap box gestures towards a white family wearing Union Jacks and St George symbols and says: “As you can see, THIS is the problem that must be stamped out in our country.” The cartoon, intended to stir up racial tensions, was drawn by a far-right artist based in South Africa who goes by the name Farstar88. It was originally uploaded by the artist to the white nationalist internet forum Stormfront in 2008 under the heading “my latest cartoon for the BNP”.

Walker, 58, a former soldier from Farnborough, Hampshire, retweeted the cartoon on January 11 from the Twitter account of a Southampton-based Ukip activist called David Jones who had added the comment: “Brits are treated like second-class citizens in their own country.” The cartoon was branded “disgusting” by anti-racism groups last night.

Simon Cressy, a spokesman for Hope Not Hate, said: “Nigel Farage attempts to hoodwink the public and insists his party and candidates aren’t racist, yet these revelations aren’t going away.”

Several candidates have “liked” the pages of the English Defence League and Britain First, an ultra-right BNP splinter group, on Ukip Facebook profiles, which are being used to campaign for votes.

There are also “likes” and posts of material from Infidels of Britain, a white nationalist group, which calls for the repatriation of “non-indigenous” people living in the UK.

Barry Elliott, who is standing for Ukip in Blyth Valley, shared on his Facebook page an “Infidels of Britain” picture of the late Tory MP Enoch Powell with the caption “I tried to warn you” — in reference of Powell’s infamous Rivers of Blood 1968 speech against immigration — which Ukip MP Douglas Carswell insisted was “wrong” in a newspaper article this week.

Geoffrey Bastin, the party’s candidate in Bexhill and Battle in East Sussex, “liked” an English Defence League page on his Facebook page, while Michael Waddington, the Ukip candidate in Pendle, and Steve Emmens, standing in Norwich South, both shared posts by Britain First last May.

Steve Wood, who is standing in Bristol South, also lists Infidels of Britain and Britain First among his Facebook likes.

Ukip has repeatedly distanced itself from Britain First, which has been accused of stirring racial hatred after its activists “invaded” mosques and handed out Bibles to Muslims. The far-right party is led by Paul Golding, a former BNP councillor and head of publicity, and describes itself as “a patriotic political party and street defence organisation.”