Labour crisis live: Third politician spoken to over Rochdale meeting that sparked antisemitism row

The Telegraph is now highlighting other comments about Israel made by Labour MPs over the last few years, including two shadow front-benchers, Thangham Debbonaire and Shabana Mahmood.

Ms Debbonaire is reported to have said in 2015 that selling arms to Israel was a “grave concern” and accused the Jewish state of violating international law, whilst Ms Mahmood, the shadow justice secretary, urged thousands of people to “boycott Israeli goods” and bombard their MPs at their constituency surgeries back in 2014.

The Labour party has been approached for comment.

The shadow defence secretary has said Labour will “follow the hard evidence” to ensure anyone who does not meet the standards of the party will be investigated.

John Healey today urged anyone else at the meeting in Rochdale who witnessed antisemitism or unacceptable comments to report it to the party.

Our political correspondent Zoe Grunewald has the full report:

Around 80 activists gathered outside Tobias Ellwood’s home in Dorset on Monday, holding flags, placards, and a megaphone, remaining there for several hours, with police called to the scene.

It is understood there is no suggestion of wrongdoing by Hyndburn councillor Munsif Dad, who leads the local authority’s Labour group, after he was spoken to by party officials investigating the Rochdale meeting.

Mr Dad is understood to have been spoken to as part of the information-gathering process into who was in attendance at the meeting.

A third politician in Rochdale believed to have attended the Rochdale meeting at which Azhar Ali’s controversial comments were recorded has been “spoken to” by Labour officials, Sky News reports.

It is not clear whether Hyndburn councillor Munsif Dad, who leads the local authority’s Labour group, made any contribution to the meeting and no further action has been taken, according to the broadcaster.

The Independent is approaching the party for more information.

The Tories have seized upon on the crisis hitting Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour, saying it showed the party had not really changed and there was still the “cancer” of antisemitism at its heart.

Defence secretary Grant Shapps told the Daily Telegraph: “It’s becoming increasingly clear that racism against Jewish people remains a cancer in the Labour Party. Keir Starmer is only acting now out of political expediency because he has been under media pressure, not out of principle. That’s weak leadership.”

The director of an influential Labour think-tank has apologised after suggesting the government should put people-smugglers on a barge and ship it to the north of Scotland.

Fuelling tensions just days ahead of Scottish Labour’s annual conference, Josh Simons apologised for his “poorly judged comment made in jest” – which was denounced as “stupid” and “cringe” by Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.

Speaking to LBC on Monday, Mr Simons – whose group Labour Together has close links to Sir Keir Starmer’s top team – said his main concern with Rishi Sunak’s ailing policy of sending asylum-seekers to Rwanda “is not actually the human rights implications of it”.

“My problem with Rwanda is it won’t work, so the question is what are you going to do instead? … Why don’t you send the smuggler gangs and put them on the barge that has been set aside for the asylum seekers, and then ship the barge up to the north of Scotland for all I – you know, who cares?”

Mike Katz, chair of the Jewish Labour Movement, has said he would like any party members at the Rochdale meeting to be suspended if they failed to call out the language used.

But he also defended the progress made by the Labour leadership to tackle antisemitism, while admitting it had not been the party’s “finest hour”.

Mr Katz told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The idea that somehow we are still in the kind of the bad days of the Corbyn leadership is really ludicrous.

“We have gone through a transformation, the difference is like night and day in the way that we are treated as an organisation, the way that our members are treated.

“This has not been the party’s finest hour. We have huge lessons to learn, but the direction of travel is very much upwards. It’s very much in the right direction.”

Labour’s John Healey has said the Labour party will “follow the hard evidence” and ensure that anyone who did not meet the “standards” of the party during the Lancashire Labour meeting where by-election candidate Ali Azhar was found to have made antisemitic comments will be investigated.

He said: “Anyone at that meeting, if there is evidence that they have, that people acted or spoke in a way that doesn’t meet the standards, or is incompatible with the values of our Labour Party, they need to report it, provide it and the Labour Party will take it seriously and investigate it.

The party’s shadow defence secretary added: “It’s what we do with every case.”

Safeguarding minister Laura Farris was pressed on whether the Tories also needed to ensure everything is “in order” with its own parliamentary candidates, amid the Rochdale row facing Labour.

The junior minister said: “Any discrimination by somebody who’s either a public official or seeking elected office is completely, completely untenable.

“And it’s completely inconsistent with holding any kind of public office. So if it occurs in our ranks, then yes, absolutely,” she told Sky News.

“But it is reasonable to look at what’s happened with the candidate in Rochdale and with the parliamentary candidate in Hyndburn. There were very strong views on Israel and Gaza, I can see that. But they were saying far more than that.”