Lib Dem MP David Ward Faces Disciplinary Action From Party

The Lib Dem MP for Bradford East, David Ward, is facing disciplinary proceedings from his party over Tweeting “The big question is – if I lived in #Gaza would I fire a rocket? – probably yes”.

Then, during a series of Tweets, he followed this up with “Ich bin ein #palestinian – the West must make up its mind – which side is it on?”

Mr Ward had already been suspended from his parliamentary party and had the whip withdrawn for three months in July 2013 after comments he made about Israel.

David Ward has a position, he proclaims it leaving no-one in any doubt as to where he stands, like it or not. Refreshingly honest for a politician but a little unhelpful where the Israel/Palestine peace process is concerned.

A Lib Dem spokesman said: “Nick Clegg has been at the forefront of calling for peace in Israel and Gaza.

“We utterly condemn David Ward’s comments, they are not representative of the Liberal Democrats.

“The party takes this matter very seriously and will treat it as a disciplinary issue.”

While labour called it a “vile comment from a desperate Lib Dem MP“.

The Conservative Chairman Grant Shapps has asked Mr Ward to withdraw the comments calling them appalling. He also said that no “No MP should tweet what’s essentially incitement to violence.” Maybe we could shorten that to “No MP should Tweet”, when using Twitter always remember the first four letters and reflect before pressing the publish button.

Senior Lecturer in Media and Communication and social media expert, Dave Hart said:

“David Ward follows a long line of politicians who have found twitter an impactful platform when it comes to finding an audience for their controversial views. He’s also discovered how having a fairly modest following (of just over 6,000) is no barrier to finding a large audience for his views.

“Whilst it’s refreshing to see politicians unafraid to air their views in public in such a direct way, they need to have a greater awareness of the impact of such social media outbursts on themselves and their party. It’s interesting to note that Mr Ward uses twitter largely as a broadcast platform and rarely replies to individual tweets – although he may be just keeping a low profile given the fuss caused by this particular tweet.”