KEN Livingstone was today suspended by Labour for "bringing the party into disrepute" amid the anti-Semitism row started by a Bradford MP.

Bradford West MP Naz Shah was yesterday suspended by the party pending an investigation over offensive messages she posted on social media.

She was stripped of the parliamentary whip and barred from party activity pending an investigation into comments she made about Israel.

Now Mr Livingstone, a former London mayor, has also been suspended as an investigation starts into his conduct after outraged senior Labour figures lined up to call for him to be kicked out.

Chief whip Rosie Winterton is also hauling backbencher John Mann in for a meeting over his behaviour after he carried out a furious face-to-face attack on Mr Livingstone, accusing him of being a "Nazi apologist".

A Labour spokesman said: "Ken Livingstone has been suspended by the Labour Party, pending an investigation, for bringing the party into disrepute.

"The chief whip has summoned John Mann MP to discuss his conduct."

The Labour leadership has faced a huge backlash over the latest anti-Semitism row to hit the party, with a major donor claiming a greater effort was needed to "stop the rot" in the party.

Labour donor David Abrahams told Jewish News: "I have been appalled by the growth of anti-Semitism in the party. This is a plague that has to be stamped out. Jews and others with values and principles need to work together within the movement to stop the rot."

Labour peer Lord Levy, a former fundraiser for the party, told BBC's Newsnight: "Unfortunately I have to say that I do think that it's a serious problem. The lack of sensitivity when an MP talks about transportation of the largest Jewish community in the world, I think it just shows such ignorance.

"The tweets and comments that she made on Hitler, I just begin to scratch my head in despair as to how people like this can enter our Parliament with such a lack of knowledge, such a lack of discretion and such a lack of sensitivity."

He added that it had "taken too long" for the leadership to act in Ms Shah's case and Mr Corbyn's team had "dithered".

He said "every party needs to look very carefully in their cupboards as to what is going on on anti-Semitism at the moment".

But MP Rupa Huq said Ms Shah's actions had been a "silly moment" that had happened before she was a public figure and warned against trial by Twitter.

Ms Huq told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "This was before she was an MP, before she was a candidate even and she shared a post on Facebook.

"It's easy to click those buttons - like, share - and I guess we have to be very, very careful what it is we are clicking on.

"It was at the time when she wasn't a public figure. It's just really unfortunate. If it is career-destroying it seems we are entering a phase where it is trial by Twitter."

Ms Huq compared the post to previous controversial comments made by London mayor Boris Johnson about the developing world.

"As far as I know Naz Shah did not write anti-Semitic tract. She pressed share on a picture, which was idiotic and foolish," she said.

An office worker for Ms Shah has also been suspended pending a separate investigation into Twitter posts from 2014.

The Bradford West MP was initially reprimanded by party leader Jeremy Corbyn yesterday morning, but following intense pressure for stronger action - including from Labour aides and Downing Street - she was suspended.

A Labour Party spokesman said: "Jeremy Corbyn and Naz Shah have mutually agreed that she is administratively suspended from the Labour Party by the general secretary.

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"Pending investigation, she is unable to take part in any party activity and the whip is removed."

Before the suspension, Mr Corbyn said the comments - made before Ms Shah was an MP - were "offensive and unacceptable", but she did not hold discriminatory views.

But the Prime Minister hit out in the Commons over the lack of firmer action against her.

"Anti-Semitism is racism and we should call it out and fight it wherever we see it," he said.

"The fact that we have got a Labour Member of Parliament with the Labour whip who made remarks about the transportation of people from Israel to America and talked about a 'solution' is quite extraordinary."

The row centres on a 2014 Facebook post made by Ms Shah. She shared a graphic of Israel's outline superimposed onto a map of the US under the headline "Solution for Israel-Palestine Conflict - Relocate Israel into United States", with the comment: "Problem solved".

The political blog website Guido Fawkes - which published the post on Tuesday - also pointed to another made before Ms Shah was an MP, which used the hashtag #IsraelApartheid above a quote saying "Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal".

Ms Shah, who quit her role as a Parliamentary assistant to shadow chancellor John McDonnell on Tuesday, yesterday told MPs she deeply regretted the hurt caused by the posts.

"Anti-Semitism is racism, full stop. As an MP I will do everything in my power to build relations between Muslims, Jews and people of different faiths and none," she told the Commons.

Ms Shah also wrote in the Jewish News that she wished to make an "unequivocal apology for statements and ideas that I have foolishly endorsed in the past".

"The manner and tone of what I wrote in haste is not excusable. With the understanding of the issues I have now I would never have posted them. I have to own up to the fact that ignorance is not a defence," she said.

But late yesterday the Labour party was accused of editing that apology to remove direct references to anti-Semitism and wider issues in the party.

BuzzFeed news claimed it had seen an original version drawn up by the MP's office which included an admission that she had "helped promote anti-Semitic tropes".

However, a spokesman for Mr Corbyn said: "We have never seen those words. The article was the work of Naz Shah."

Heaton Labour councillor Mohammed Shabbir, who works in Ms Shah’s parliamentary office, was also suspended by the party yesterday for social media posts of a similar nature.

Guido Fawkes reported he sent Tweets in 2014 using the term ‘Zio’ and referring to a ‘Palestinian Holocaust in Gaza’ as a form of facism.

Councillor Simon Cooke, leader of the Conservative group on Bradford Council, welcomed Ms Shah’s suspension, saying: "It’s very important that they deal firmly with anti-Semitism and that MPs are not treated any differently to councillors or ordinary members of the Party.

"What I hope comes out of this is the recognition that (these posts) are not only offensive but wrong. That is what I want to hear them saying."

Cllr Cooke said the Labour Party "needs to recognise it has a problem with anti-Semitism" and to deal with it.

The suggestion that Jews should be "relocated" was "horribly anti-Semitic", he added.

On Cllr Shabbir's suspension, Cllr Cooke added: "I think that all race and religion-based hatred needs to be treated equally and with zero tolerance, so it was essential that Councillor Shabbir, an elected Labour member of Bradford Council, should be suspended while allegations of this nature are investigated.

"Failure to do so could have brought Bradford Council into disrepute."

When the Telegraph & Argus spoke to Councillor Shabbir yesterday, he said: "It is appropriate for me to remain silent at the moment."

On the suspensions, Councillor David Green, Labour leader of Bradford Council, said: "It’s a Labour Party decision and it’s not right that I should comment."

Ms Shah did not comment to the T&A last night.