Ed Balls defends Labour MP candidate suspended amid antisemitism row

Ed Balls has become embroiled in Labour’s latest antisemitism row after he defended a parliamentary candidate who was suspended on Tuesday.

Graham Jones, who has previously been an MP, was vying for the candidacy of Hyndburn when audio, obtained by the Guido Fawkes website, appeared to show Jones use the words “f*****g Israel” at a meeting. He also allegedly suggested that British people who volunteer to fight with the Israel Defence Forces should be “locked up”.

Labour suspended Jones on Tuesday, marking the second suspension this week, after Rochdale by-election candidate Azhar Ali was also suspended after he was recorded in a meeting of the Lancashire Labour Party – the same one attended by Jones – suggesting that Israel had taken the 7 October Hamas assault as a pretext to invade Gaza.

On Wednesday morning, Balls, himself a former Labour shadow chancellor, mounted a defence of Jones on Good Morning Britain. He said that Ali had said “a terrible thing, an antisemitic thing” that had been “dealt with” – but that Jones was not antisemitic.

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Balls said: “Graham Jones, I know him well. He was an MP – he is not a Corbynite, not hard left. Absolutely not anti Israel… I think what had happened was he and Azhar Ali had been told to go to a meeting to reassure the commmunity that they were being listened to, but I don’t think he was intending to send those kind of antisemitic messages at all…

“The thing he said about the military is true. I think its extremely unwise but to describe him for what he said as anti-semitic I think is untrue. Graham Jones is not an antisemite.”

Shadow defence secretary John Healey attempted to mount a defence of Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer on Wednesday, saying that he has made rooting out antisemitism from Labour “essential” to his plan on changing the party. However, he admitted that not everyone in the party was a “saint”.

He said: “Restoring, retaining the trust of the Jewish community and any community is a constant process. And Keir Starmer is deeply, deeply aware of that…

“But this is not a party of people who are saints. When people do things that may be wrong, say things that may be unacceptable, the important thing is how does the party respond.”

Meeting under the spotlight

The meeting that Ali and Jones attended has now come under the spotlight, with the Jewish Labour Movement saying it wanted any party members present disciplined if it emerges that they failed to criticise the remarks. The row has also raised questions as to whether Starmer has actually managed to deal with antisemitism in the Labour party following the scandals that overshadowed Jeremy Corbyn’s time as leader.

Ali has apologised for his remarks but Labour has moved to end its backing of the candidate after the Daily Mail reported that he had blamed “people in the media from certain Jewish quarters” for fuelling criticism of a pro-Palestinian MP. It means that Ali will sit as an independent MP if he wins the Rochdale by-election and will not receive the party whip.

Also running in the constituency are former Labour MP Simon Danczuk, now the Reform Party candidate, and George Galloway, of the Workers Party of Britain, who is campaigning against Labour’s stance on Gaza.