British Labour party suspends former London mayor on 'Zionism' comment

Amid an escalating controversy over alleged anti-Semitic rhetoric among its members, the British Labour Party yesterday informed the public that it had suspended Livingstone "pending an investigation, for bringing the party into disrepute."

Livingstone defended MP Naz Shah, who was suspended on Wednesday for sharing allegedly anti-Semitic posts on social media – before she was elected in 2015.

The posts in question included a graphic with a map of Israel superimposed on a map of the US, bearing the caption "Solution for Israeli-Palestine conflict: Relocate Israel into United States." She added the comment "Problem solved." She was also found to have used the hashtag #IsraelApartheid above a quote saying "Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal".

Labour MP John Mann, who was later filmed chasing Livingstone and calling him a "Nazi apologist," was also reprimanded by party officials for his "completely inappropriate" public confrontation.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said later on Thursday that his party "won't tolerate racism."