He was a committed left-winger, but his soft-left views made him vulnerable to the hard left in the early-1980s. He was able to retain his seat at the 1983 general election, but was deselected in 1985 after a bitter struggle, described as "political 'murder'" in his "Guardian" obituary, and replaced as Labour candidate in Brent East by Ken Livingstone at the 1987 general election. "His support for Israel, said Freeson after his deselection, had led him to be branded 'that bloody Zionist and Jew'."