Sir Keir Starmer said he took “tough” and “decisive” action to withdraw support for Labour’s Rochdale by-election candidate, after a storm of criticism about remarks Azhar Ali made about Israel. The Labour leader insisted the party had “changed” under his leadership after it was confirmed on Monday (12 February) that Mr Ali, who is understood to be suspended pending an investigation, would have Labour’s backing withdrawn. Mr Ali had apologised after he was recorded in a meeting of the Lancashire Labour Party suggesting that Israel had taken the October 7 Hamas assault as a pretext to invade Gaza. Labour, however, said it moved to end its backing of the candidate “following new information about further comments”.