Former Liberal Democrat MP for Bradford East, David Ward has been sacked as the Liberal Democrat candidate for the general election after allegations that he holds anti-Semitic views.
The Lib Dem leader, Tim Farron has said that David Ward, was “unfit to represent the party”.
The decision came shortly after Prime Minister’s Questions, where the Prime Minister ripped into Mr Ward’s “questionable record on antisemitism”.
Mr Ward, was also in the firing line from Sir Eric Pickles, the former communities’ secretary. He asked Ms May: “Does she believe it’s the party of all party leaders within this house not just to pay lip service about [anti-semitism] but to do something about it?
“And does she share my disgust that a former member of this house criticised by the Home Affairs Select Committee by his anti-Semitic utterances is now the official candidate in Bradford East for the Liberal Democrats?”
The Prime Minister replied: “He’s right to highlight Bradford … people will be, I think, rightly disappointed to see the Liberal Democrats readopt a candidate with a questionable record on antisemitism. It is important that all parties maintain the strongest possible censure on all forms of intolerance and send that message to our communities.”
Mr Ward has previously been criticised for his use of language in relation to the Holocaust on a previous occasion in 2013, when he said, “the Jews” had failed to learn the lessons of the mass genocide.
He had also been suspended from the Lib Dems’ parliamentary group in the same year after he called Israel an “apartheid state” and saying that Zionists were “losing the battle”.
Mr Farron said in a statement released on Wednesday afternoon: “I believe in a politics that is open, tolerant and united. David Ward is unfit to represent the party and I have sacked him.”
Mr Ward was MP for Bradford East from 2010 until 2015, when he lost his seat to Labour MP Imran Hussain, the area’s current MP.
