A Labour candidate has been suspended from the party, GB News understands, after he allegedly referred to "f***ing Israel" at a meeting of activists.
Graham Jones has been administratively suspended from the party - pending investigation - and was called in for an interview this evening.
Jones, a former Labour MP who lost his seat in 2019, is seeking to stand again for the Labour Party.
Today, sources told Guido Fawkes that he allegedly claimed UK citizens who volunteer to fight for the Israeli Defence Forces "should be locked up". He is also alleged to have claimed it was "illegal" for them to fight for Israel.
Graham Jones has been administratively suspended from the party - pending investigation - and was called in for an interview this evening
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The remarks were allegedly made at the same meeting of activists which saw Rochdale by-election candidate Azhar Ali suggest that Israel deliberately relaxed its security in October, ahead of the Hamas attacks, following warnings of an imminent threat.
Starmer was accused of being "complicit" in a "disgusting display of antisemitism" by a group of Tory MPs today, who sent a joint letter calling for a list of names of those present at the meeting.
They also asked whether any Labour members present reported the meeting to party authorities.
In a statement alongside the letter, former Tory chairman Jake Berry said: "It is vital that the Labour Party reveals who has been complicit in this disgusting display of antisemitism and did nothing to call it out.
"Labour claim to have changed. This proves that whatever they say, Keir Starmer is just the new leader of Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party."
Jeremy Corbyn was suspended from the parliamentary Labour party over his response to EHRC's damning report on anti-semitism in 2020 and now sits as an independent MP.
Starmer initially stood by Ali but he later withdrew his support for the candidate yesterday evening, saying "new information" had emerged.
Yesterday morning, Labour's national campaign coordinator Pat McFadden said: "He’s issued a complete apology and retraction. And I hope he learns a good lesson from it because he should never have said something like that in the first place.”
But yesterday evening, a party spokesperson said: “Following new information about further comments made by Azhar Ali coming to light today, the Labour Party has withdrawn its support for Azhar Ali as our candidate in the Rochdale by-election.
“Keir Starmer has changed Labour so that it is unrecognisable from the party of 2019. We understand that these are highly unusual circumstances, but it is vital that any candidate put forward by Labour fully represents its aims and values.
“Given that nominations have now closed, Azhar Ali cannot be replaced as the candidate.”
Azhar Ali, was recorded at a meeting of the Lancashire Labour Party suggesting that Israel deliberately relaxed its security in October, ahead of the Hamas attacks, following warnings of an imminent threat
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Martin Forde KC, who led an investigation into the party under Jeremy Corbyn, criticised the current Labour leader for failing to act sooner, saying: "If you want a fair and transparent system then it has to deal with people consistently.
"I’m aware from discussions with some of the MPs within the party who might be described as left-leaning that they feel that when it comes to disciplinary action taken against them then things move rather slowly, but if you’re in the right faction of the party, as it were, then things are dealt with either more leniently or more swiftly.
Forde noted that Labour MPs Diane Abbott and Kate Osamor had both apologised immediately after they were accused of antisemitism, but that "things seemed to drag on in terms of disciplining certain elements of the party, and be dealt with swiftly in others”.
He added: “This was a very inflammatory thing [for Ali] to say. That there is some complicity to justify retaliatory attacks was clearly antisemitic.”
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Campaign Against Antisemitism said: "Sir Keir Starmer has blotted an otherwise fairly admirable copybook and given the public reason to doubt the earnestness of his promise to tear antisemitism out ‘by its roots’ in Labour.
"People will have to judge for themselves whether the additional reported comments by Azhar Ali are really any worse than the comments that had already been reported."
But responding to his remarks today, Starmer denied that factionalism played a role in the handling of complaints of antisemitism, saying it makes “no difference to me where somebody stands in the Labour Party”.
He said: "I set out four years ago to tear antisemitism out of the Labour Party. It’s the first thing I said I’d do as Labour leader, and to change our party.
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“I have taken a series of decisions along those lines ruthlessly changing our party, and it’s made no difference to me where somebody stands in the Labour Party.
“The change I’ve brought about is a Labour Party that is now back in the service of working people.”
On a visit to Wellingborough, the Labour leader added: "Those comments were appalling and that is why we took decisive action. It is virtually unprecedented to withdraw support for a candidate in the way I withdrew support from this candidate yesterday. That’s what a changed Labour Party is all about.
“Of course, any allegation will be fully investigated by the party, but the important thing is the decisive action that’s been taken to make it absolutely clear that this is a changed Labour Party.”
Pressed on whether those present at the event would be investigated, Sir Keir added: “Any allegation that needs to be investigated will be investigated.”
