David Ward, the former Liberal Democrat MP who accused Jews of “inflicting atrocities on Palestinians” has been sacked as a general election candidate by the party.
Ward had intended to stand as a Lib Dem candidate in Bradford East, where he lost his seat at the 2015 election.
Tim Farron, Lib Dem leader, said: “I believe in a politics that is open, tolerant and united. David Ward is unfit to represent the party and I have sacked him.”
A disciplinary hearing will take place after the election in June. Ward’s party membership has been suspended, meaning he is no longer a Lib Dem councillor in Bradford.
The Jewish Chronicle understands party polling showed Ward would have beaten the sitting Labour MP and regained the seat for the Lib Dems.
Ward had earlier been condemned by politicians and Jewish groups after it was revealed he had been selected in the constituency.
He was briefly stripped of the party whip in 2013 after using his blog to equate Jewish suffering in the Holocaust with Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.
Ward had written that he was “saddened that the Jews, who suffered unbelievable levels of persecution during the Holocaust, could within a few years of liberation from the death camps, be inflicting atrocities on Palestinians”.
On Wednesday, Farron described Ward’s comments as “offensive, wrong and antisemitic” and said the party would take strong action against antisemitism.
“David Ward has been disciplined in the past and if he or anyone else makes antisemitic remarks in this campaign I will expect the party to act quickly and decisively, as we did when we suspended a candidate in Luton South yesterday,” he said.
Ashuk Ahmed was suspended as a Lib Dem candidate on Tuesday for a series of antisemitic posts on social media.
