Left-wing filmmaker Ken Loach has called for MPs who attended a rally against anti-Semitism in the Labour Party to be deselected.

Loach, whose 2016 film ‘I, Daniel Blake’ received the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, made the remarks to an audience at a screening of his film at the Kingswood Constituency Labour Party.

According to The Mail Online, Loach accused the Israeli government of “infiltrating and undermining the Labour left” and said MPs who attended the Parliament Square rally organised by the Board of Deputies and the Jewish Leadership Council should be replaced.

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“Unless we get Labour MPs who believe in that manifesto last year we won’t get in power,” he is quoted as saying. “If they’ve been going to the demonstration against him outside Westminster… those are the ones we need to kick out.”

He added: “You cannot work with people who have come to undermine the biggest challenge we’ve had – we’ve never had a leader like Corbyn before in the whole history of the Labour Party….and that’s why the dirty tricks are going to come out.”

Loach later said his earlier quotes “do not reflect my position” and that “re-selecting an MP should not be based on individual incidents but reflect the MP’s principles, actions and behaviour over a long period… Being an MP is not a job for life”.

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