Labour suspends councillor who said Starmer ‘following commands from Israel’

Labour have suspended a councillor who claimed party leader Keir Starmer was “following commands from Israel.”

Councillor Ron Cooper made the claim in a social media post this week in which he suggested “hundreds of thousands” would rejoin the party if Jeremy Corbyn were still leader.

In a January 5th post the Tanhouse ward councillor wrote:”If Corbyn was Labour Leader again then hundreds of thousands of members would rejoin the Party. @Keir_Starmer Stands for nothing but #Purge of socialists and following commands from Israel.”

Other posts by the West Lancashire councillor included praise for a “video worth watching” by film director Ken Loach, after he was expelled by Labour over his support for the Labour Against The Witch-hunt group.

He wrote in response to criticism of this post:”I suppose your evidence for saying anti-racist Ken Loach supported antisemitism was a headline in the Scum newspaper.”

Cooper also posted an attack on the anti-racism charity Hope Not Hate online.

In a statement the West Lancashire Labour Group confirmed on Thursday:”Cllr Ron Cooper has been suspended by the Labour Party pending an investigation and has had the Labour Whip removed by West Lancashire Labour Group and currently sits as an independent councillor. There will be no further comment made while the investigation is underway.”