Starmer under pressure amid Rochdale row over Israel remarks

Labour has insisted that there are “strong checks” on would-be MPs, after a second parliamentary candidate was suspended over remarks about Israel.

Sir Keir Starmer’s party has been pitched into a row about the handling of antisemitism allegations, with parliamentary candidate Graham Jones suspended on Tuesday, only a day after Labour was forced to suspend and withdraw its backing for Rochdale by-election candidate Azhar Ali.

It came after audio, obtained by website Guido Fawkes, appeared to show the former Labour MP use the words “f****** Israel” at the same meeting Mr Ali attended, while also allegedly suggesting that British people who volunteer to fight with the Israel Defence Forces should be “locked up”.

With his candidacy for Hyndburn now in doubt, it is understood Mr Jones was called to an interview on Tuesday evening with party officials.

Any move to drop him as a candidate would have to follow a formal party process.

Shadow defence secretary John Healey said not everyone in his party was a “saint”, but said Labour should be judged on how it responds to complaints or allegations.

He said: “Restoring, retaining the trust of the Jewish community and any community is a constant process.

“And Keir Starmer is deeply, deeply aware of that.

“He pledged to root out antisemitism as part of the changes he wanted to make to Labour, regarded them as essential. He’s done that.

“But this is not a party of people who are saints.

“When people do things that may be wrong, say things that may be unacceptable, the important thing is how does the party respond.

“We have an independent investigations process and when it concerns candidates or MPs, we expect as the public does the very highest standards.”

The Jewish Labour Movement said it wanted any party members present at the meeting disciplined if it emerges that they failed to criticise the remarks.

It comes as it emerged that Labour councillor in Hyndburn Munsif Dad was at the same gathering, with Sky News first reporting that Mr Dad has since been “spoken to” by officials. It is not known whether or not he contributed to the meeting or whether the comments by Mr Ali or Mr Jones were challenged.

The row has shone a spotlight on candidate selection in the party, as well as questions about whether Sir Keir has fulfilled his promise to root out antisemitism in his party following the scandals that overshadowed Jeremy Corbyn’s tenure as leader.

Mr Ali had apologised after he was recorded in a meeting of the Lancashire Labour Party suggesting that Israel had taken the October 7 Hamas assault as a pretext to invade Gaza.

But Labour moved to end its backing of the candidate after the Daily Mail reported that he had blamed “people in the media from certain Jewish quarters” for fuelling criticism of a pro-Palestinian MP.

Mike Katz, chairman of the Jewish Labour Movement, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he would like any party members at the Rochdale meeting to be suspended if they failed to call out the language used.

But he also defended the progress made by the Labour leadership to tackle antisemitism, while admitting it had not been the party’s “finest hour”.

Mr Katz said: “The idea that somehow we are still in the kind of the bad days of the Corbyn leadership is really ludicrous.

“We have gone through a transformation, the difference is like night and day in the way that we are treated as an organisation, the way that our members are treated.

“This has not been the party’s finest hour. We have huge lessons to learn, but the direction of travel is very much upwards. It’s very much in the right direction.”

Appearing on the same programme, Mr Healey denied that there were flaws in the vetting process for candidates.

He said: “Azhar Ali was widely respected, widely supported across communities, including the Jewish community in the North West, and there certainly are strong checks, the due diligence process as part of selecting Labour candidates.

“But you can’t see everything everywhere. What’s important is that if new information comes to light, as in this case, we will act to investigate, we will act to block those who are not fit to serve as MPs.”

Labour continues to face questions about why it took so long for Mr Ali to be suspended, with left-wing critics of Sir Keir’s leadership claiming that factional rivalry is to blame for inconsistency in the handling of complaints.

Voters go to the polls in the Rochdale by-election at the end of the month, with the result now hugely uncertain following the Labour decision to drop support for Mr Ali.

Also running in the constituency are former Labour MP Simon Danczuk, now the Reform Party candidate, and George Galloway, of the Workers Party of Britain, who is campaigning against Labour’s stance on Gaza.

If elected, Mr Ali will sit as an independent MP and will not receive the party whip.

The decision means that Labour will also need to find a new candidate to contest the seat at the upcoming general election.