What Azhar Ali said – and how Westminster reacted

News that Labour has withdrawn support from its candidate for the Rochdale by-election is dominating the political news agenda again today.

This could be the “biggest disaster for Sir Keir Starmer in his nearly four years as leader of the party”.

But what exactly did Azhar Ali say that led to this moment?

His candidacy was thrown into the spotlight after the Mail on Sunday reported he had told a meeting of the Lancashire Labour Party that Israel deliberately allowed the Hamas atrocity to take place in order to give it the “green light” to invade Gaza.

Soon after, Mr Ali issued an “unreserved” apology for the “deeply offensive, ignorant and false” comments.

However, overnight the Daily Mail reported that Mr Ali allegedly blamed “people in the media from certain Jewish quarters” for fuelling criticism of a pro-Palestinian Labour MP.

The paper also said he claimed that Israel planned to “get rid of [Palestinians] from Gaza” and “grab” some of the land.

Sky News has approached Mr Ali and the Labour Party for comment.

Aside from the withdrawal of Labour support, there has been reaction to these allegations from a wide cross section of Westminster.

Rishi Sunak told GB News that this is proof the Labour Party “hasn’t changed” under Sir Keir Starmer.

“He’s stood by and sent cabinet ministers to support him, until literally five minutes before I walked on tonight, under enormous media pressure, has decided to change his mind on principle. 

“No principles at all. So, no, the Labour Party hasn’t changed. It’s a con.”

Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats said: “Comments in the public domain were already unacceptable. Hamas’s terrorist atrocities on 7th October were an act of unspeakable evil.”

We also heard from Labour’s Pat McFadden, who said the decision to withdraw support was “tough but necessary”.

“When Keir Starmer became leader of the Labour Party, he said he would change the Labour Party and expect that every candidate and MP would operate to the highest standards.

“And although it is a difficult decision, today, he’s put those words into action.”