It is all a Jewish conspiracy, you see. Labour’s candidate for the Rochdale by-election, Azhar Ali, told a party meeting that Israel had “deliberately” allowed the October 7 massacre — in which Hamas murdered 1,200 people and took more than 240 hostage — to go ahead to give them “the green light to do whatever they bloody want”.
Mr Ali has somewhat unconvincingly withdrawn his absurd and antisemitic claims. This leaves Sir Keir Starmer in a bind. Since he assumed the Labour leadership, Sir Keir has made rooting antisemitism out of his party a top priority. Yet it is too late for Mr Ali to be removed from the ballot, and waiting in the wings is George Galloway, forever hoping to chance his way back into Parliament.
