Whitworth Gallery director forced out over exhibit's statement of solidarity with Palestine

The Director of the University of Manchester ’s Whitworth Gallery is being asked to step down following a row over a statement of solidarity with Palestine that was removed from an exhibition by a human rights investigations agency.

Alistair Hudson, who has headed up the Whitworth and Manchester Art Gallery since 2018, faced criticism from UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) over the recent Cloud Studies exhibition at the gallery.

The exhibition’s opening statement criticised Israel’s military operations in Gaza, which UKLFI said contained “obvious inaccuracies”.

The display was temporarily suspended after complaints from Jewish groups, but was reinstated in August with a promise from Hudson that the Whitworth would provide a space for alternative responses to the issues raised.

READ MORE: 'He thought his dreams had been brutally ripped away from him': 'High-flyer', 21, took his own life minutes after Deloitte sack him over Zoom

He said: “The university, as a non-political organisation, has tried to balance extremely complex issues raised by the exhibition, but we believe that the worst outcome for all parties concerned would have been to close this exhibition for an extended period of time.”

But The Guardian reports that the university explicitly cited his response to the fallout from Cloud Studies when asking him to step down.

UKLFI say they wrote to the university in September suggesting that they take appropriate disciplinary action against Hudson, following a freedom of information request which failed to demonstrate that Hudson had checked the accuracy of statements made in the exhibition.

Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, UKLFI chief executive Jonathan Turner said he did not know if Hudson had been asked to