Lib Dems sack candidate and former MP David Ward after 'antisemitism' accusations

The Liberal Democrats have sacked one of their general election candidates after allegations that he holds antisemitic views.

Tim Farron said that David Ward, the former MP for Bradford East, was "unfit to represent the party".

The decision came just two hours after Prime Minister's Questions, in which Theresa May tore into what she called Mr Ward's "questionable record on antisemitism".

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."

The Lib Dem leader had previously protested that he did not have the power to stop a local consituency association from choosing a candidate. Mr Ward appears to have been suspended from the party, however.

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.

At PMQs Sir Eric Pickles, the former communities secretary asked Ms May: “Does she believe it’s the party of all party leaders within this house not just to pay lipservice about [antisemitism] 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 antisemitic 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 using the stereotype that Jewish people are wealthy, having in 2013 referred to a "powerful, well-funded Board of Deputies".

He was also criticised for his use of language in relation to the Holocaust on a previous occasion in the same year, when he said "the Jews" had failed to learn the lessons of the mass genocide.

Mr Ward was previously suspended from the Lib Dems' parliamentary group after he called Israel an "apartheid state" and saying that Zionists were "losing the battle".