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Election result: Manchester Gorton

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Anti-Israel Jewish MP Sir Gerald Kaufman has won a comprehensive victory in his Manchester Gorton constituency.

He won 19,211 votes, giving him a majority of over 6,000.

Sir Gerald had been embroiled in controversy before the poll after the Board of Deputies asked the Labour Party to consider withdrawing him as a candidate following comments he made warning voters about the alleged influence of the “Israel lobby”.

He had made the comments in March at a meeting in Parliament held by Friends of Al-Aqsa to discuss Israeli house demolitions.

He suggested wealthy members of the Jewish community would play a similar role to that of Tory “non-dom” peer Michael Ashcroft.

“Just as Lord Ashcroft owns most of the Conservative Party, right-wing Jewish millionaires own the rest,” he said.

Martin Linton, chair of Labour Friends of Palestine, was ousted from his key marginal seat of Battersea, where he had held a tiny 163-vote majority.

At the same March meeting he had claimed “the long tentacles of Israel” would play a behind-the-scenes role in key constituencies. He later apologised.

Following his comments, Board of Deputies president Vivian Wineman had said: “We note that Mr Linton has apologised but we are surprised that, as a seasoned politician, he was not aware of the antisemitic nature of his remarks.”

Mr Linton was beaten by Jane Ellison, a former Barnet councillor who served Mill Hill ward. She secured a majority of almost 6,000, representing a swing of 6.5 per cent from Labour to Conservative.

In Manchester Gorton, Qassim Afzal was second for the Lib Dems with 12,508 votes, representing a 1.1 per cent swing away from Labour.

Conservative candidate Caroline Healy was third on 4,224.

Tim Dobson of the Pirate Party UK polled the fewest votes of the eight candidates with 236 votes.

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