Sir Keir Starmer acknowledged the last week had been “bumpy” but insisted he was prepared to make “ruthless” decisions as he seeks to show Labour is a changed party.
Earlier this week, an antisemitism row forced the Labour leader to drop support for Azhar Ali, the party’s candidate for the upcoming Rochdale by-election taking place on February 29.
It emerged Mr Ali had allegedly blamed “people in the media from certain Jewish quarters” for the suspension of a pro-Palestinian MP.
Sir Keir said he was “satisfied” with Labour’s “robust due process” when pressed on whether he could be confident there are no other candidates who share the views of Mr Ali.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Sir Keir said: “I did something that no leader of the Labour party has ever done before, which is to remove a candidate in a by-election where they cannot be replaced, because I was so determined to take decisive action in relation to antisemitism.”
Asked whether it was done quickly enough, he said: “It was done within days.”
He added: “We are giving up a Labour seat. That’s the right thing to do. But what it shows is, when there’s tough decisions to be made I take those decisions.
“That’s what I’ve been doing for four years, taking tough and ruthless decisions to change this party. I’ve taken two tough and ruthless decisions in the last 10 days.
“Has it been bumpy? Yes, of course it’s been bumpy, but, were they the right decisions is the question I asked myself. They were the right decisions.”
Sir Keir told reporters he is “satisfied” with Labour’s “robust due process” and the party continues to fight antisemitism.
He said: “I’ve put in place in the Labour Party a robust due process exercised for every single candidate.
“In this particular case there was a private conversation that couldn’t be picked up by due process.
“So I’m satisfied with our processes, but we must continue to fight antisemitism wherever we are in organisations, in political parties.”
Labour’s national campaign co-ordinator said Sir Keir acted “quickly and decisively”.
Speaking to LBC on Friday, Pat McFadden said: “It’s not an easy thing to withdraw support from a candidate in a by-election after nominations have closed but he acted quickly and decisively to do that and that underlines the change that’s been made in the Labour Party in recent years.”
He added: “We didn’t have the full story before us on Sunday, by Monday we did, and then we took the action. We acted very quickly on this.”
Enjoy the convenience of having The Sunday Post delivered as a digital ePaper straight to your smartphone, tablet or computer.
Subscribe for only £5.49 a month and enjoy all the benefits of the printed paper as a digital replica.
Subscribe