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David Ward may stand as independent candidate

Mr Ward said his potential candidacy was “very much about Israel and supporters of Israel deciding who should be candidates in British elections”

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David Ward, the controversial former MP who was sacked as a Liberal Democrat election candidate, may stand as an independent, it has been reported.

Mr Ward told Buzzfeed News his potential candidacy was “very much about Israel and supporters of Israel deciding who should be candidates in British elections”.

He was selected by the Lib Dems last month to try to win back the Bradford East seat he lost at the 2015 election.

But party leader Tim Farron sacked him 24 hours later, saying Mr Ward was “unfit to represent the party”.

In 2013, Mr Ward was condemned by politicians, Jewish groups and Shoah survivors after using his blog to equate Jewish suffering in the Holocaust with Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.

He accused “the Jews” of “inflicting atrocities on Palestinians."

Now a councillor in the west Yorkshire city, Mr Ward told Buzzfeed his sacking was “all very unfortunate, I’ve served the community one way or another, as a councillor and an MP for over 30 years and I think people know me.

"I think I’ve got a story to tell, it’s not about party politics, but it’s about who can decide who should be candidates in parliamentary elections, and at the end of the day this is very much about Israel and supporters of Israel deciding who should be candidates in British elections and I think that’s unacceptable for democracy."

He is expected to decide whether to run as an independent candidate by Thursday, the deadline for those wanting to stand in the election to declare their candidacies.

Last week Mr Ward said it was “despicable” that he had been told he could not be a governor at a local school after parents raised concerns about his “conduct”.

In May last year Mr Ward had to be reminded of his party’s stance against antisemitism after he backed a Labour MP’s Jew-hate comments.

Following his win in the local elections he tweeted: “Credit to #NazShah for raising important issue of #US support for rogue State of #Israel”.

On Holocaust Memorial Day 2016, Mr Ward tweeted: "#HolocaustMemorialDay theme 'Don't stand by' we must speak out for all - including #Palestinians - who face persecution and discrimination."

On the day of the Westminster terror attack in March, the former MP, blamed the West for PC Keith Palmer’s murder.

He wrote on Twitter that "all terrorist attacks in UK stem from our foreign policy".

See all our Election 2017 coverage here

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