Starmer under growing pressure to overhaul vetting of potential Labour MPs

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Sir Keir Starmer is facing growing pressure to overhaul the vetting of potential Labour MPs, as he seeks to contain the spiralling fallout from the suspension of two candidates this week.

Mike Katz, chair of the Jewish Labour Movement, urged the Labour leader to revisit the due diligence processes that underpin candidate approval as the party was engulfed by a row over alleged antisemitism.

“We need to recognise that post October 7, there’s been a quantum change in the amount of conspiracy theories and misinformation floating around social media,” Katz told the Financial Times, referring to the Hamas attacks on Israel.

“It’s incredibly divisive and we need to ensure these haven’t been picked up or propagated by people who want to, or do, represent Labour,” he added.

Other Labour insiders share the view that tighter vetting is required. They argue that the October 7 attacks and the subsequent Israeli invasion of Gaza, which have fuelled both antisemitism and Islamophobia, have had a radicalising effect on some party activists.

On Tuesday, Labour suspended former MP Graham Jones, the party’s candidate for Hyndburn in north-west England, over his leaked comments calling for Britons fighting for the military of “fucking Israel” to be “locked up”.

It came just a day after Starmer decided to drop Azhar Ali as the party’s candidate in an upcoming by-election in Rochdale, another constituency in north-west England, over leaked comments from the same event last October.

Ali claimed Israel had allowed Hamas to attack the Jewish state on October 7 as a pretext for the invasion of Gaza.

Starmer has faced mounting criticism over his handling of the debacle involving his party’s candidate in Rochdale, having initially defended Ali after he apologised.

Labour’s decision to withdraw support came after further leaked remarks by Ali…