Labour has withdrawn its support for Rochdale by-election candidate Azhar Ali following criticism of remarks he made about Israel. However, he will still appear on the ballot as the party's candidate on Thursday 29 February. Politics latest: Labour in 'absolute mess' over by-election So, what happened and why can't he be replaced? Mr Ali's candidacy for the by-election was thrown into the spotlight after reports he told a meeting of the Lancashire Labour Party that Israel deliberately allowed the Hamas 7 October attacks to take place in order to give it the "green light" to invade Gaza. He issued an...