By-elections damage already done

Labour has dropped Azhar Ali as its candidate in the Rochdale by-election in a deeply embarrassing blow for the party.

Sir Keir Starmer had headed into this week planning to focus on the Kingswood and Wellingborough by-elections on Thursday, only for his candidate’s comments on Israel to overshadow them completely.

Labour tried to stand by their man, insisting he’d fallen for a conspiracy theory, and apologised immediately. However, after new allegations emerged that Mr Ali also blamed Jewish media figures for stoking criticism against a pro-palestinian Labour MP, the candidate will now run as an independent. It is by any definition a disaster, and one that is almost unbelievable. Mr Ali is no newcomer to politics. He’s been a parliamentary candidate twice, and is the leader of the Labour group on Lancashire County Council.

For Labour, it raises serious questions as to why it took them 48 hours to suspend him, and accusations that antisemitism matters more when it comes from the left of the party, rather than those the leadership support.

The scandal has now ensured the seat will not have a Labour MP at least until the general election, with the party no longer supporting Mr Ali’s candidacy.

But the crisis goes far beyond Rochdale, throwing the two by-elections this week into potential disarray.

Labour’s Damien Egan is the favourite to win in Kingswood, after former minister Chris Skidmore stood down, as is Gen Kitchen in Peter Bone’s old seat, after he faced a recall petition.

But now MPS and party figures are focused on distancing themselves from Mr Ali, and could be tarnished by association. Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, deputy party leader Angela Rayner and leading shadow cabinet member Lisa Nandy all campaigned in Rochdale recently.

The Tories are not going to win in Rochdale, and they probably won’t win in the other two by-elections either. But Mr Ali’s comments, and Labour’s failure to act quickly, raise the prospect they could, and have opened up new attack lines around antisemitism for the year to come.