Sadiq Khan says Labour is 'proud to be antisemitic' in excruciating gaffe

As the presenter moved away from the Mayor, he attempted to correct himself, adding: "I beg your pardon, tackling anti-semitism".

Khan's remarks come as the Labour Party battles accusations of antisemitism this week.

Rochdale by-election candidate Azhar Ali was accused of suggesting that Israel deliberately relaxed its security in October, ahead of the Hamas attacks, following warnings of an imminent threat.

While Graham Jones, the former Labour MP for Hyndburn who lost his seat in 2019 and is seeking to stand again, is alleged to have said that UK citizens who volunteer to fight for the Israeli Defence Forces "should be locked up" and that it was "illegal" for them to fight for Israel, according to the website Guido Fawkes.

Jones, a former Labour MP who lost his seat in 2019, was seeking to stand again for the Labour Party. He was administratively suspended from the party last night, pending investigation, GB News understands. The former MP was called in for an interview last night.

Sources told Guido Fawkes that he allegedly claimed UK citizens who volunteer to fight for the Israeli Defence Forces "should be locked up". He is also alleged to have said it was "illegal" for them to fight for Israel.

Starmer was accused of being "complicit" in a "disgusting display of antisemitism" by a group of Tory MPs earlier this week, who sent a joint letter calling for a list of names of those present at the meeting. They also asked whether any Labour members present reported the meeting to party authorities.

In a statement alongside the letter, former Tory chairman Jake Berry said: "It is vital that the Labour Party reveals who has been complicit in this disgusting display of antisemitism and did nothing to call it out.

"Labour claims to have changed. This proves that whatever they say, Keir Starmer is just the new leader of Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party."

Starmer initially stood by Ali but he later withdrew his support for the candidate on Monday evening, saying "new information" had emerged.

Yesterday morning, Labour's national campaign coordinator Pat McFadden said: "He’s issued a complete apology and retraction. And I hope he learns a good lesson from it because he should never have said something like that in the first place.”

But yesterday evening, a party spokesperson said: “Following new information about further comments made by Azhar Ali coming to light today, the Labour Party has withdrawn its support for Azhar Ali as our candidate in the Rochdale by-election.

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"I’m aware from discussions with some of the MPs within the party who might be described as left-leaning that they feel that when it comes to disciplinary action taken against them then things move rather slowly, but if you’re in the right faction of the party, as it were, then things are dealt with either more leniently or more swiftly.

Forde noted that Labour MPs Diane Abbott and Kate Osamor had both apologised immediately after they were accused of antisemitism, but that "things seemed to drag on in terms of disciplining certain elements of the party, and be dealt with swiftly in others”.

He added: “This was a very inflammatory thing [for Ali] to say. That there is some complicity to justify retaliatory attacks was clearly antisemitic.”