Rochdale by-election voters urged to ‘teach Starmer a lesson’ in attack adverts
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Voters in Rochdale are being urged to back Labour’s disowned by-election candidate to teach Sir Keir Starmer a lesson, reports suggest.
Supporters of Azhar Ali, who was suspended by the party after he was embroiled in an anti-Semitism row, are said to be sharing virtual adverts depicting the Labour leader as a clown and dubbing him “Anti-Palestine Starmer”.
One of the posters, obtained by LBC and journalist Michael Crick, claims Mr Ali was sacked by Labour “for speaking on Palestine”, adding: “It’s time to teach Starmer a lesson in Rochdale.”
Another presents the by-election as a choice between Mr Ali – “a strong voice for Palestine” – and Sir Keir, whose photo has been warped to give him a red nose and clownish expression.
In both, Mr Ali, who is still technically Labour’s candidate as it is too late to change the ballot paper, is depicted against a green backdrop featuring an image of Big Ben.
It is unclear how widely the adverts have been shared, or exactly where they have been circulated. LBC claimed they were posted by supporters of Mr Ali in WhatsApp groups.
The broadcaster said it was told by a source that the Rochdale candidate is still determined to win, and is “carrying on from his car as a quasi-Independent, with three or four people”.
Labour withdrew its support for Mr Ali and suspended him from the party on Monday after it emerged he had made a series of remarks criticising Israel.
It means Labour is effectively conceding the Greater Manchester seat, where it has a majority of roughly 9,000.
There had been fears Labour’s electoral prospects in Rochdale – where rival George Galloway, from the Workers Party of Britain, has been campaigning on a pro-Palestinian ticket – could be harmed by Sir Keir’s refusal to take a tougher stance on the war in the Middle East.
The party has also been targeted with an attack poster claiming a vote for Labour is a “vote for genocide” in Wes Streeting’s north London constituency.
A poster taped to a bus stop near Gants Hill Tube station in Ilford depicted a ballot paper with a black cross in a box, alongside the phrase: “Vote for genocide, Vote Labour”.
It is unclear who was responsible for the attack ad, which was displayed on the opposite side of the road to a Jewish bakery.
