2010 GENERAL ELECTION RESULT
Candidates
Name | Party | Votes | % | +/- |
---|---|---|---|---|
David Ward | Liberal Democrat | 13,637 | 33.7 | +3.9 |
Terry Rooney | Labour | 13,272 | 32.8 | -11.3 |
Mohammed Riaz | Conservative | 10,860 | 26.8 | +9.4 |
Neville Poynton | British National Party | 1,854 | 4.6 | -1.0 |
Raja Hussain | Independent | 375 | 0.9 | +0.9 |
Peter Shields | Independent | 237 | 0.6 | +0.6 |
Gerry Robinson | National Front | 222 | 0.5 | +0.5 |
Majority | 365 | 0.9 | ||
Turnout | 40,457 | 62.1 | +8.0 |
David Ward has been elected to defend his seat, Will the Lib Dems deselect him?
Liberal Democrat MP David
Ward has had his party's whip withdrawn over controversial comments he
made in the lead-up to Holocaust Day in January.
Mr Ward said "the Jews", who had suffered during the
Holocaust, had inflicted "atrocities on Palestinians in the new State of
Israel" within a few years.He also posted a tweet at the weekend, calling Israel an "apartheid state".
Mr Ward is said to be "disappointed" by the Lib Dem leadership's decision.
The MP for Bradford East wrote on his website in January that he was "saddened that the Jews, who suffered unbelievable levels of persecution during the Holocaust, could within a few years of liberation from the death camps, be inflicting atrocities on Palestinians in the new State of Israel and continue to do so on a daily basis in the West Bank and Gaza".
'Disappointed' This led to a complaint to the Lib Dems from the Holocaust Educational Trust.
Mr Ward initially defended the comments and said his party's response - reprimanding him - had been "regrettable", but later apologised for the "unintended offence" which his words had caused.
He insisted that neither he nor his comments had been anti-semitic.
Following a meeting on Tuesday with Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg and chief whip Alistair Carmichael, the party whip was withdrawn until the autumn.
This means he has been expelled from the Parliamentary party, although the Commons will rise on Friday for MPs' summer break.
Mr Ward is said to be "really disappointed" at the decision.
The BBC understands that the party was also angered by another tweet by Mr Ward at the weekend, in which he asked: "Am I wrong or are am I right? At long last the #Zionists are losing the battle - how long can the #apartheid State of #Israel last?"
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comment is open to all feel free to link to this blog.