The Labour Party has suspended its second election candidate over alleged comments he made about Israel.
Graham Jones has been suspended after a recording of him allegedly saying British citizens volunteering to fight for Israel should be “locked up” was made public. The audio clip was leaked by the website Guido Fawkes on Tuesday.
The Government has confirmed that British nationals with additional nationalities can “serve in legitimately recognised armed forces of the country of their other nationalities”.
Jones becomes the second Labour candidate facing backlash over Israel comments, after Rochdale byelection candidate Azhar Ali was recorded suggesting that Israel “allowed” the deadly attack by Hamas gunmen on October 7.
Labour would need to follow a formal process to remove him from his candidacy but Jones has reportedly been called in for an interview.
The Jewish Labour Movement (JLM) said the comments made by Jones were “appalling and unacceptable”.
A spokesperson for the group said: “We are dismayed that Jones was not only a bystander at the meeting where Azhar Ali made his antisemitic comments but sought to inflame tensions further.”
"Over the past two days, the importance of a zero-tolerance approach to antisemitism in Labour has become clearer than ever. Labour must stand Graham Jones down as a parliamentary candidate and conduct a disciplinary investigation."
Who is Graham Jones?
Graham Jones is a former Labour MP for Hyndburn, Lancashire, a seat which he held until 2019. He was selected by the party as the candidate to seek re-election for the seat in the general election.
He first became an MP for Hyndburn in 2009, after Greg Pope announced he was stepping down. He held the seat by a majority of 3,090 at the 2010 general election.
Mr Jones was appointed to the Labour Whip’s office in October 2010, under Ed Miliband’s leadership of the Labour Party. He was an assistant throughout the 2010-15 parliament.
The MP resigned from the front benches of Labour in 2015 following the election of Jeremy Corbyn as the leader of the party. At the time, Jones said he could not serve under Corbyn’s as he was from the “extreme left” and did not hold Labour’s “true values”.
He backed Owen Smith’s attempt to replace Corbyn in the 2016 leadership election.
Jones lost his seat in 2019.
