Starmer under pressure amid Rochdale antisemitism row as second candidate suspended

Safeguarding minister Laura Farris was pressed on whether the Tories also needed to ensure everything is “in order” with its own parliamentary candidates, amid the Rochdale row facing Labour.

The junior minister said: “Any discrimination by somebody who’s either a public official or seeking elected office is completely, completely untenable.

“And it’s completely inconsistent with holding any kind of public office. So if it occurs in our ranks, then yes, absolutely,” she told Sky News.

“But it is reasonable to look at what’s happened with the candidate in Rochdale and with the parliamentary candidate in Hyndburn. There were very strong views on Israel and Gaza, I can see that. But they were saying far more than that.”

Pushed on whether there are flaws in candidate vetting, Mr Healey 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’s John Healey was pressed on calls for any party member at the Rochdale meeting, who failed to act on the inflammatory comments, should be suspended.

The shadow defence secretary told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We will follow the hard evidence that’s presented to us or that comes to light.”

He said: “Anyone at that meeting, if there is evidence that they have, that people acted or spoke in a way that doesn’t meet the standards, or is incompatible with the values of our Labour Party, they need to report it, provide it and the Labour Party will take it seriously and investigate it.

“It’s what we do with every case.”

The party acted after Graham Jones, the prospective Labour MP for Hyndburn, appeared to say that Britons who volunteer to fight for the Israel Defense Forces “should be locked up”.

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Editorial: Vague promises of ‘levelling up’ gone nowhere, grooming gangs, and now antisemitism – Rochdale deserves better than this

Britain is facing a “tornado” of anti-Jewish racism working its way through the country, the government’s antisemitism tsar has warned.

John Mann, the government’s independent adviser on antisemitism, has called on political leaders from all parties to “get their collective acts together to sort this out”.

The ex-Labour MP’s dramatic intervention comes amid the latest antisemitism scandal engulfing Labour, after Sir Keir Starmer dropped the party’s Rochdale by-election candidate over comments he made about Israel.