I'm a longstanding Labour Party member.
I think the party is absolutely right to suspend Azhar Ali. I only wish they'd done it 24 hours ago. I support Starmer in a general sense. I think he has a good grasp of realpolitik at a very, very tricky time in British (and world) politics, but I think he's slow to do the right thing sometimes, because he takes too much time to take soundings on the optics etc. Sometimes you just have to say, what is the right thing to do, and then do it.
Principles are important in politics like never before, especially in the run-up to this year's general election, as the whole point of the Labour landslide so many of us would like to see is that the Tory party is at this point completely devoid of principles.
In any case, even if you prefer optics to principles, what was the worst that could happen here? This seat will be contested again in less than 12 months. Better to take the high road and come back to the polls looking squeaky clean with a new candidate, than to hang grimly on now but do real damage to your electoral prospects later in the year. Personally, I'd like the Labour Party to endorse the LibDem candidate, but then I'd like to see electoral pacts in many constituencies this year and I have to accept it isn't going to happen. I'm also a member of Compass. I won't vote Labour in the general election because it will be wasted where I live.
I do believe - in fact I know - that the party had a shocking antisemitism problem at constituency level in the past and Starmer's done a fair job of rooting it out. And yes, I know the difference between antisemitism and censuring the actions of the State of Israel or more precisely the morally bankrupt Netanyahu, which everyone, even the US, is now doing. But this evening's decision to suspend Ali was vitally important and fortunately has now been taken.