Rochdale row shows Labour has much work to do on anti-Semitism, says former MP

Ian Austin, Labour MP for Dudley North from 2005-2019, described the party's candidate Azhar Ali as a 'mad conspiracy theorist' following his suggestion that Israel allowed the October 7 terror attacks to justify its war in Gaza.

Labour has now removed the party's backing for Mr Ali, but the action came to late to prevent him from standing as a Labour candidate in the election on February 29.

Lord Austin, who now sits as an independent in the House of Lords, said he felt sorry for the people of the town who faced having either Mr Ali or veteran left-winger George Galloway as their MP.

"Pity the people of Rochdale who face a choice at the by-election later this month between veteran extremist George Galloway and the mad conspiracy theorist Azhar Ali who is standing for Labour," he said.

"Talk about a choice between the lesser of two evils. Yet Rochdale will have to go to the polls and, realistically, the only two people who can win are the appalling Galloway and the disgraceful Ali."

Lord Austin said Mr Galloway had been expelled from the Labour Party by Tony Blair for calling on British troops to 'refuse to obey illegal orders' during the war in Iraq.

"He praised Arab dictators and called the collapse of the Soviet Union 'the biggest catastrophe of my life'," he said. "He praised Arab dictators and called the collapse of the Soviet Union 'the biggest catastrophe of my life'."

More recently, Mr Galloway was sacked as a presenter on TalkRadio after he said Liverpool’s victory over Tottenham Hotspur in the 2019 Champions League final meant there would be 'no Israel flags on the cup'.

Mr Ali was recorded saying that Israel deliberately allowed at least 1,200 of its citizens to be massacred on October 7 to give it the 'green light' to invade Gaza

Lord Austin, who quit the Labour Party in 2019 over what he described as a 'culture of anti-Semitism' under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership, said the party had done much to tackle the problem under Sir Keir Starmer's leadership.

But he said the selection of Mr Ali as a candidate showed how much work the party still had to do.

"There is no doubt Keir Starmer is much better than Jeremy Corbyn, who stood accused of supporting extremism and tolerating anti-Semitism," he wrote in a national newspaper.

"Sir Keir's support for Israel since the October 7 atrocities has been determined and resolute, even in the face of criticism from some in his party.

"Labour has taken steps to deal with the anti-Jewish racism that poisoned the party under his predecessor, but I always thought it was far too soon to say the problem had been dealt with, and Ali's disgusting comments show how much more work there is still to do."

He said Mr Ali's comments were 'the sort of nonsense you hear from mad obsessives or find in the dark corners of the internet', and made him completely unfit to be a Labour MP.

"They are the ramblings of a lunatic conspiracy theorist, not the leader of a major county council and someone standing for Parliament."

Lord Austin said London and other major cities were being taken over by 'cranks and racists' who spent every Saturday launching verbal attacks on Israel.

"Some of them openly support Hamas or the Houthi terrorists in Yemen," he added.

"They chant for Israel to be destroyed, for Hamas to 'hit and bomb Tel Aviv' or even about a massacre of Jews by a Muslim army.

"The death of innocent civilians in Gaza is heartbreaking and many of those marching no doubt mean well," he said.

"But if you side with the Hamas terrorists who deliberately started the war by murdering, kidnapping and raping innocent civilians, don't tell me you are not an extremist. And if the only country you want to see abolished is the only Jewish one, don't tell me you're not a racist."

He said Labour had to take a lead by tackling extremists head on.

"No longer can they play community politics and rely on so-called and self-appointed 'community leaders' to deliver the votes," he said.

"They must show leadership, confront the Islamists and win the argument. That is the only way to give moderate voices in the Muslim community the confidence and strength to speak up too."