A Labour election candidate has sparked shock by appearing to compare celebrations over the death of Hitler to someone rejoicing at the idea of the death of Tony Blair.

Jane Aitchison paused in a radio interview for an awkward 12.5 seconds – thought to be an on-air record – before commenting on the remarks of a colleague who had said she would celebrate the death of Mr Blair as well as that of Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, and George W Bush.

Ms Aitchison, who is standing in the marginal constituency of Pudsey, West Yorkshire, later apologised for any offence after saying people celebrate deaths sometimes because “they feel strongly about what that person represented”.

Earlier this week, Zarah Sultana, a Labour candidate in Coventry South at next month’s general election, was forced to apologise after it was revealed that in 2015 she wrote on social media: “Try and stop me when the likes of Blair, Netanyahu and Bush die.”

In her apology, Ms Sultana said she had been “exasperated by endless cycles of global suffering, violence and needless killing”.

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Interviewed on BBC Radio 5 Live by Emma Barnett, Ms Aitchson was initially asked whether Ms Sultana should be allowed to stand.

“I think that needs to be looked at, and I’m sure that it is,” she replied. “I don’t know the details of it.

“I think sometimes people say things that… they’re very passionate and they say things that are wrong but I don’t think that what she’s saying there is necessarily worse than looking down on the people of Grenfell who died in a fire, which is what we’ve experienced.”

Jacob Rees-Mogg was forced to apologise after suggesting it would have been common sense for the Grenfell fire victims to ignore firefighters’ advice and get out of the building.

Ms Aitchison admitted Ms Sultana’s comments were “not good” but when pressed on whether she should be allowed to stand, Ms Aitchison paused – and carried on pausing, creating an awkward silence.

Ms Barnett later described it as “the longest pause in my career”.

Eventually the candidate replied: “I think I’d like to talk to her and see what she was really trying to say and if she’s apologising. If she’s apologising, that would be OK.”

She added: “People do celebrate deaths sometimes. It’s not good, is it? Is it really good to celebrate deaths? It’s not, but people do sometimes because they feel strongly about whatever that person represented.”

She denied she was celebrating the idea of the death of Mr Blair.

“What I’m saying is that people – for instance – they celebrated the death of Hitler. It’s not tasteful but it’s – you know…”

The candidate, who describes herself as a “proud socialist fighting for the many” hopes to replace Tory Stuart Andrew, who had just a majority of just 331.

Twitter users said the interview was “a car crash”, “painful” and “very uncomfortable to listen to”.

Ms Aitchison said in a statement afterwards: “I was challenged during a live radio interview about a case I knew nothing about. I apologise for causing offence, but I said in the interview that I did not condone anyone celebrating the death of anyone, and I do not.”

A Labour spokesman told The Independent that Ms Aitchison had been presented with a case she “understandably” did not really know about.