TIM Farron has has sacked a Liberal Democrat General Election candidate facing allegations of anti-Semitism just hours after he came under pressure from Theresa May.
The Lib Dem leader denounced former MP David Ward as "unfit to represent the party" and reversed a decision to let him stand for the party on June 8 in his old constituency of Bradford East.
Earlier during Prime Minister’s Questions, Mrs May attacked Mr Farron’s party for putting forward a candidate "with questionable views on anti-Semitism".
She said: "People will be rightly disappointed to see the Liberal Democrats re-adopt a candidate with a questionable record on anti-Semitism.
"It is important that all parties maintain the strongest possible censure on all forms of intolerance and send that message to our communities," she declared.
Her comments came in response to a question from her Conservative colleague Sir Eric Pickles, the former minister and ex-Bradford councillor, who said party leaders must do more than "pay lip service" to tackling anti-Semitism.
"Do you share my disgust that a former member of this House, criticised by the Home Affairs Select Committee for his anti-Semitic utterances, is now the official candidate in Bradford East for the Liberal Democrats?" asked Sir Eric.
Moments later, when Mr Farron stood up to ask the PM a question, he failed to address the issue, confining himself to saying that the Conservative Party had “never been nastier" and Britain needed a "decent new opposition".
Mrs May replied: "He talks about a decent opposition. I find it difficult to hear those words coming from his mouth when we have just heard that his party has selected a candidate with questionable views on anti-Semitism."
Shortly thereafter, Mr Farron issued a statement, saying: "I believe in a politics that is open, tolerant and united. David Ward is unfit to represent the party and I have sacked him."
In response, Mr Ward said he was “stunned and somewhat ashamed of my own party". However, he did not say whether he would fight his removal.
Later he added: "The anti-Semitic thing is a nonsense. It is just used, it's a well-known tactic, how do you avoid conversation or any criticism about Israel? Just say people are anti-Semitic. I am certainly not anti-Semitic."
In 2013, Mr Ward sparked accusations of anti-Semitism with a blog comparing the treatment of Palestinians by Jews to the Holocaust.
Later that year, he was suspended by the Lib Dems for questioning the continued existence of the "apartheid" state of Israel and was also forced to apologise in 2014 after suggesting he might be ready to fire rockets from Gaza into Israel.
He was put forward as the Lib Dem candidate to fight Bradford East in 2015 but lost the seat, which he had held since 2010.
Mr Farron later told a Commons inquiry that he regarded some of Mr Ward's comments as anti-Semitic but said it was appropriate for him to return to active involvement with the Liberal Democrats after "serving his time" on suspension.
Joe Glasman of the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism said: "Mr Farron deserves no credit for allowing the selection of such unsuitable candidates, then claiming to be powerless to intervene, then sacking them. They should never have been selected at all.
"It is a great shame that Tim Farron only seems to act on anti-Semitism when enough people are watching," he added.
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