Scottish Labour has removed one of their candidates after an internal party probe into comments he made on anti-semitism.
Bill Curran wrote that he stood with controversial MP Chris Williamson, who was suspended after claiming Labour had been “too apologetic” over the row about anti-Jewish sentiment in the party.
He also appeared to criticise the treatment of former party member , who was expelled for misconduct after being accused of anti-semitism.
A Scottish Labour spokesperson said: “Bill Curran has been removed as Labour’s candidate in Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross.”
A raft of anti-semitism complaints have been made against Labour members in recent years and the party has been accused of going soft on perpetrators.
Margaret Hodge, a Labour MP who is Jewish, also pointed the finger at party leader Jeremy Corbyn and Labour is the subject of an investigation by an equalities watchdog.
Williamson, who was elected as the Labour MP for Derby North, inflamed the row after a recording showed him trying to minimise the scale of anti-semitism in the party.
He said at the time: “Because, in my opinion, we’ve backed off far too much, we’ve given too much ground, we’ve been too apologetic.”
Curran, who was recently selected as the Westminster candidate for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, defended the MP.
He said: “Until the members get a safe space to discuss what is and what is not antisemitism, the feelings of the rank and file that they are being bullied and shut down, this will not go away #IStandWithChrisWilliamson.”
In August last year, he also wrote: “Let our Jewish comrades know that we will stand by them. When the blackshirts come, we will stand to defend the schules, synagogues, cemeteries.
“This loyalty is unconditional. They won’t have to vote for us, they don’t even have to stop throwing vitriol at us.”
Curran also wrote that an “inordinate” amount of time had been devoted to a “minor” problem.
In a separate tweet on Hodge, he used the phrase “#protectourisraelifunding”.
Party figures were unhappy about the tweets and it is understood Michael Sharpe, Scottish Labour’s new general secretary, recommended Curran’s removal. Members of the party’s governing body unanimously agreed to revoke his candidacy.
Curran said he had “limited” time to save his candidacy.
The row comes after the Daily Record revealed that party bosses had allowed a member who had sparked a terror scare to put himself forward as a candidate.
Alex Tiffin, a Muslim, admitted in court to sending threatening messages to a fellow member of his mosque, but he was admonished after the prosecution accepted he was an “idiot” not a terrorsist.
Tiffin contested a party selection in the Highlands, but was unsuccessful.
