So, who on earth should Rochdale vote for?

With no official Labour – or indeed Green Party – candidate on the ballot for this crucial by-election, voters could be forgiven for spoiling their ballots. Here’s why they must not, says John Rentoul

The ‘poisonous’ George Galloway is looking like one of the more likely to walk away as victor (PA)

Tomorrow in Rochdale, Rishi Sunak told Keir Starmer in the Commons, “the people will have a choice of three former Labour candidates, two of which are antisemites”.

Ouch. It was one of many low blows in a noisy and unedifying session of Prime Minister’s Questions, much of which was taken up by the two party leaders accusing each other of being too weak to disown their predecessors, Liz Truss and Jeremy Corbyn.

But the prime minister’s response did point out an embarrassing problem for Starmer: “His party is so mired in hate that, despite three ex-Labour candidates standing, he can’t back a single one of them.”