Labour send weak message with their tardy rebuke of Ali

THE outrageous Israel comments made by Labour's Rochdale by-election candidate, and the time it has taken T for Keir Starmer to disown them, reveals a deep-seated problem for the party.

- Tim Newark

It does not want to alienate Muslim support, yet many of its candidates are pro-Palestine.

Indeed, it took 48 hours for Keir Starmer to withdraw support for Azhar Ali for, among others, peddling the disgusting conspiracy theory Israel knew in advance about the Hamas attack on October 7 but allowed it so it could retaliate in response and kill Palestinians.

Clearly, Starmer hoped his preferred candidate could weather the storm and carry on, business as usual, but then more comments were revealed - further grotesque claims about Jews and their support for Israel. Ali is popular with Rochdale's Pakistani community (otherwise, one suspects, he would have been disavowed far sooner) and allegedly boasted about stopping Israeli flags flying from local public buildings. He knows his audience and, we can only assume, chose his words to reinforce their support.