Ditching controversial candidate, Starmer says UK Labour ‘changed’ on antisemitism

LONDON — Britain’s Labour leader Keir Starmer insisted Tuesday the main opposition party has “changed” since it was plagued by antisemitism, hours after it withdrew support for a parliamentary candidate who made contentious remarks about Israel.

Azhar Ali was Labour’s candidate for a February 29 by-election in Rochdale, northwest England, following the death last month of sitting MP Tony Lloyd.

But a recording emerged over the weekend of him at a meeting of the local Labour party, in which he suggested that Israel deliberately allowed Hamas to attack on October 7 in order to justify invading Gaza.

After initially standing by his candidacy following an apology, Labour announced late Monday that it would no longer back Ali’s bid to become an MP after “new information about further comments” emerged.

The party cannot now replace Ali as the nominations have closed. He will not sit as a Labour lawmaker if still elected later this month.

“Further information came to light yesterday calling for decisive action, so I took decisive action,” Starmer told reporters Tuesday, as he visited another constituency where a by-election will be held Thursday.

“It is a huge thing to withdraw support for a Labour candidate during the course of a by-election.”

“It’s a tough decision, a necessary decision, but when I say the Labour Party has changed under my leadership, I mean it.”

Starmer has made tackling antisemitism within Labour’s ranks a key mission since he became its leader nearly four years ago.

The party, now on course to win a general election due later this year, saw a spate of incidents under former left-wing leader Jeremy Corbyn.

A landmark October 2020 report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission ruled that Labour under Corbyn had broken the law in its “inexcusable” handling of complaints.

The period saw Jewish members and lawmakers leave the party in droves as criticism of Israel and Zionism veered into toxic antisemitism from Corbyn supporters.

The UK equalities watchdog last year removed Labour from two years of special supervision over the issue.

Ali had been the front-runner to win the election, caused by the death of the previous Labour lawmaker.

Other candidates include George Galloway, a former Labour lawmaker known for his heated anti-Israel rhetoric, who now represents the tiny Workers Party and is campaigning against Labour’s stance on the war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’s October 7 onslaught. The Labour Party has criticized Israel’s conduct in the war and the toll on Palestinian civilians but has not called for an immediate ceasefire.

Britain’s Conservative government said Monday that it was imposing sanctions on four Israeli settlers accused of committing human rights abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank.