SACKED Liberal Democrat candidate David Ward has claimed the party’s dramatic decision to suspend its local top team was designed “to shut me up”.

Mr Ward, who was sacked by Tim Farron as a candidate in a row over anti-Semitism, made the claims after the national party said local activists showed “a gross error in judgement” by continuing to help him in his new campaign as an independent.

On Friday, the national party suspended the local executive committee pending an investigation into whether they had been undermining the campaign of its official candidate, Mark Jewell, by aiding Mr Ward.

A spokesman said they all remained party members but the regional office would be taking over the running of the party in Bradford.

He said: “The Liberal Democrats have initiated the suspension procedure against the Bradford local party, pending an investigation into its commercial printing of campaign literature for an independent candidate.

“Such action was not centrally sanctioned, would be unacceptable and represent a gross error in judgement.

“The Liberal Democrats fully support our candidate in Bradford East, Mark Jewell and urge all Liberal Democrats to vote for him on 8 June.”

Now Mr Ward - who is an outspoken critic of Israel but strongly denies claims of anti-Semitism - claims the move was designed to shut down his arguments.

He said: “I can’t believe this is the party that I know, or thought I knew.

“I will not stop what I’m doing, because that’s what this is all designed to do, to rob me of support and to pull the plug from under me, for one purpose here, that’s really to keep me quiet, to shut me up, and I won’t.”

The suspension of the local party chiefs came after Mr Ward’s election leaflets emerged, saying they had been ‘printed by the City of Bradford Liberal Democrats’ - although Mr Ward said he paid over the going rate for the printing service.

And a letter sent by senior local Lib Dem, Councillor Jeanette Sunderland, to party supporters, has also been seen by the Telegraph & Argus, in which she said they were “shocked and saddened” by Mr Ward’s sacking as a candidate, attaching a message from him about why he was standing as an independent as well as details of how people could contact him.

On Friday, Cllr Sunderland, who is on the local party’s executive committee and leads the Liberal Democrat group on Bradford Council, responded angrily to their suspension, saying she hadn’t directly been told of it.

She said: “I’m ashamed to be a member of a political party that treats its membership like this.

“I have found out via a press release to the Telegraph & Argus. This is a shameful way to treat people.”

There had been rising tensions between the national party and local Lib Dems over Mr Farron’s decision to remove Mr Ward as a candidate.

Many local Liberal Democrats had remained fiercely loyal to Mr Ward. He had remained within the Liberal Democrat group on Bradford Council, while one party member had told the Telegraph & Argus she had resigned in protest at his sacking.