Party criticised for delay in acting over comments in which Azhar Ali suggested Israel had allowed 7 October attack to happen

Here is my colleague Geneva Abdul’s report on the reaction this morning to Labour pulling its support from its Rochdale byelection candidate:

Labour’s decision to withdraw support for its candidate at the Rochdale byelection in the wake of controversial comments about the 7 October Hamas attacks has been “shambolic”, the senior lawyer who compiled a report on the party’s culture has said.

Prime minister faces one-hour grilling from voters following day of campaigning in Yorkshire

I must confess that if I was looking for “woke extremists” myself, then the British armed forces would be unlikely to be my first port of call, but the idea has gripped defence secretary Grant Shapps, who has complained that “time and resources are being squandered to promote a political agenda which is pitting individuals against each other” because “there is a woke culture that has seeped into public life over time and is poisoning the discourse.”

He has ordered a review of diversity and inclusion policies at the Ministry of Defence (MoD) after it was reported that the army wants to relax security checks for overseas recruits to increase black, Asian and minority ethnic representation.

This is a time when only our enemies want us to be divided and we have absolutely no time for this – sort of putting ideology before security. It is absolutely clear, and let me be totally clear, there is no way we are going to be easing up security requirements for ideological requests. That is simply not going to happen.

You know, the British armed forces have one purpose and one purpose alone, and that’s to defend the British people and bring death to the king’s enemies. There’s no way we’re going to be putting ideology before security.