Ken Livingstone suspended by Labour over Hitler comments

Ken Livingstone has been suspended from the Labour Party after trying to defend a fellow MP's comments about Israel.

Naz Shah, MP for Bradford West, shared a post on social media in 2014 calling for Israel to "relocate" to the US. The discovery of the comments led to her being suspended from the party yesterday.

Speaking to the BBC, Livingstone said Shah's message had been "over the top", but warned against confusing criticism of Israeli government policy with anti-Semitism.

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"Let's remember when Hitler won his election in 1932, his policy then was that Jews should be moved to Israel. He was supporting Zionism – this is before he went mad and ended up killing six million Jews," he said.

The former London mayor also claimed there was a "very well-orchestrated campaign by the Israel lobby to smear anybody who criticises Israeli policy as anti-Semitic".

His comments were swiftly condemned by Labour MPs, with more than 30 calling for his expulsion from the party.

They also prompted what the Daily Telegraph describes as a "blazing row" between Livingstone and fellow politician John Mann, the chair of parliament's all-party group on antisemitism, in front of a media scrum in Westminster.

Mann, the MP for Bassetlaw, Notts, accused Livingstone of being a "lying racist" and "Nazi apologist".

He later told Sky News: "They are the most disgusting remarks, grossly calculated to offend, deliberately timed, that I have ever heard from any Labour politician."

Such was the clamour that at one point, Livingstone appeared to be sheltering from reporters in a disabled toilet.

After he emerged, he was suspended for "bringing the party into disrepute", said a Labour spokesperson.

They added that the chief whip had also summoned Mann to "discuss his conduct".