Shortlisted Lib Dem London Mayoral candidate expelled from Party over historic antisemitic incident

Geeta Sidhu-Robb, who last year was shortlisted as a Liberal Democrat candidate for the London mayoralty, has reportedly been expelled from the Party.

Ms Sidhu-Robb was revealed to have made antisemitic comments when she was a Conservative candidate in the 1997 General Election (she apologised for the comments at the time and again more recently when they re-emerged).

However, the Liberal Democrats’ leader, Sir Ed Davey, said that the Party’s vetting process was “completely flawed” and that he was “furious” when the incident resurfaced.

A disciplinary panel was reportedly convened and, after hearing evidence, apparently unanimously decided to uphold all the complaints.

Ms Sidhu-Robb reportedly said: “I have already publicly apologized for an act of momentary stupidity that took place 24 years ago under extreme provocation, but I am not a racist or antisemite and never have been, as anyone who knows me will attest. I find it deeply disappointing that a faction within the Liberal Democrats, who felt threatened by a fresh, engaging, female-centric approach to politics, have used this incident as a pretext to remove me from the party. However, I am now looking forward to focusing fully on my broader work, empowering a new generation of women to become strong, healthy, confident leaders by sharing the tools which have helped me during my career as an award-winning entrepreneur.”

A Lib Dem spokesperson reportedly said: “The Liberal Democrats take all allegations of this nature extremely seriously. The party suspended Geeta Sidhu-Robb within 24 hours of receiving a complaint and can confirm that, following our investigation, she was expelled late last year.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.