Keir Starmer campaigning with Wellingborough Labor by-election candidate Jen Kitchen, 13 February 2024. Photo: EDDIE KEOGH/GETTY/GETTY
Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of presiding over a «disorderly» delay in withdrawing support for the Labor candidate in the Rochdale by-election as he faced fresh criticism from all wings of his party.
Sir Keir supported Azhar Ali for two days as he was embroiled in an anti-Semitism scandal, but withdrew his support on Monday evening after new comments emerged.
The aspiring MP has already apologized for previously suggesting that Israel allowed Hamas to massacre its citizens on October 7 in order to invade the Gaza Strip.
Sir Keir's U-turn came after the Mail reported that Mr Ali had made further remarks suggesting Jewish control of the media and boasting that they had not raised Israeli flags after the Hamas terror attacks.
Criticism of the Labor leader was led by Martin Ford, who led the 2022 report which found factional disputes between the party's left and right had occurred under Jeremy Corbyn, with both sides using antisemitism as a weapon.
Azhar Ali (left), who claimed Israel «deliberately allowed» Hamas to massacre its own people on October 7 has been suspended from the Labor Party pending an investigation
Calling Sir Keir's response «shambolic», Mr Ford told the Today program » BBC Radio 4: «If you want a fair and transparent system, then it must work consistently with people.
“From discussions with some MPs within the party who could be described as more to the left, I know that they feel that when it comes to disciplinary action being taken against them, things are moving quite slowly, but if you are in the right wing faction of the party, then things are are resolved either more gently or more quickly.
“Now, this is a perception, I can’t quantify it, but I do think that this is something that management should be concerned about in some way meaning to dilute it, or, if that is indeed the case, then it needs to give confidence to both the general public and the voting public, and their members, that people will be treated fairly.” /p>
Andrew Fisher, who was the Labor Party's head of policy under Jeremy Corbyn, accused Sir Keir of «double standards» by initially giving Mr Ali the «presumption of innocence».
He said the Labor Party leader had treated figures of the left party, who were more harshly accused of anti-Semitism, which he attributed to “factional motives.”
A few thoughts
Lord Mann, a former Labor MP and independent government adviser on antisemitism, sought to absolve Sir Keir of blame for the selection of Mr Ali, but told Times Radio there was a need to «think a little bit about how they got themselves into this mess».
“Starmer will be angry at those who did not do their due diligence against Mr Ali because his remarks were extremely rude… and went beyond these conspiracy theories.”
>Lord Walney, another former Labor MP who now sits on the bench, expressed despair that «disgusting anti-Semitic conspiracy theories can be openly espoused at major political gatherings.»
«For too long we have too often allowed misunderstandings of Muslim communities and fear of being accused of anti-Muslim prejudice to allow completely unacceptable currents of opinion to remain relatively unchecked. This must change,” he tweeted.
Azhar Ali, who was the Labor Party candidate for Pendle, Lancs, four years ago, watches then party leader Jeremy Corbyn speak on stage during a visit to Nelson Library in December 2019. Photo: ANTHONY DEVLIN/GETTY/GETTY
There was also fury from the left of the party Mish Rahman, who sits on the Labor Party's national executive committee, suggests the initial decision to support Mr Ali was motivated by factionalism.
< p>«Those who perform mental gymnastics in the media and in statements on Twitter explain why the Labor Party could not suspend the Alis, who have truly shown themselves to be what they are — absolute hypocrites,» he said.
< p>Mr. Rahman also accused the party leadership of “double standards.”
It has not gone unnoticed that Sir Keir's fall from grace at Rochdale was his second major U-turn in a week after he formally abandoned what had been a flagship pledge to borrow £28 billion a year to invest in environmental projects.
In an interview with GB News, Rosie Duffield, who has been ostracized by some of her colleagues for her views on transgender issues, said: “I have no input into the future manifesto as an MP, but I know that what many Labor MPs really wanted I would like some clarity regarding our future policy, because we are always asked about this.
Less sitting on the fence
“I was very disappointed by the removal of the green pledges as there were many other active Labor MPs so it would have been nice to have a little more clarity on these issues. There will be a little less fence-sitting over the next few months. And we'll have to do it, won't we? So people know what we stand for.”
When asked if she herself knew what the Labor Party stood for, Ms Duffield said no. Asked about the transgender scandal, an issue on which Sir Keir has also changed his position in recent months, she added: “I think we're still a bit confused about it. I'm not sure that a wait-and-see approach on this issue will really help the Labor Party win friends.»
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday afternoon, Sir Keir insisted he had taken «tough» and «decisive» action and said he had successfully «transformed» the Labor Party during his four years in leadership.
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