Naz Shah has been suspended by the Labour party and the whip removed from her following a day of intense scrutiny.

Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn had been under huge pressure to take action after initially giving the Bradford West MP only a reprimand over comments she made about Israel, before she was an MP, on Facebook.

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

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

Ken Livingstone - the former London Mayor who is a close ally of Mr Corbyn - said the remarks were not anti-Semitic and the suspension was unnecessary.

He told LBC Radio: "What we have at the moment is a lot of people making a big issue about anti-Semitism in the Labour Party. In 47 years I have never heard anyone say anything anti-Semitic.

"We expelled a couple of people from the Labour Party early on for saying things that could clearly be interpreted as anti-Semitic.

"This is not that; this is an over-the-top comment about the horrendous conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians."

Councillor Mohammed Shabbir, who represents Labour in the Heaton ward in Bradford and works in Ms Shah’s parliamentary office, has also been suspended by the party 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.

The Conservative Group on Bradford Council welcomed the Labour Group’s decision to suspend Cllr Shabbir, with its leader Simon Cooke stating: “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.

“I do hope that the National Labour Party are equally robust in their response to the allegations against Naz Shah MP.

“Their recent, very strongly-worded claims of zero tolerance of anti-Semitism will look somewhat false if they fail to follow through and the public may reasonably view them as a party that is happy to include people who are racially and or religiously intolerant.”

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

Earlier today the Prime Minister hit out at the lack of strong action taken against Ms Shah.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn had personally warned Ms Shah over the Facebook comments, but the PM suggested more should be done.

This afternoon, Ms Shah offered MPs a profound apology for the posts as Mr Corbyn faced mounting pressure to suspend her.

She used a point of order in the House of Commons to say she regretted the posts - made before she was elected MP for Bradford West in 2015 - and to say she was working with Jewish groups.

Ms Shah yesterday quit as an aide to shadow chancellor John McDonnell and issued an"unreserved" apology for a social media posting in which she appeared to endorse the relocation of Israelis to the US.

In a Facebook post in 2014, Ms Shah shared a graphic which showed an image 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".

Ms Shah's post suggested the US has "plenty of land" to accommodate Israel as a 51st state, allowing Palestinians to "get their life and their land back".

It added that Israeli people would be welcome and safe in the US while the "transportation cost" would be less than three years' worth of Washington's support for Israeli defence spending.

Ms Shah added a note suggesting the plan might "save them some pocket money".

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

Mr Corbyn - who is under pressure to deal with complaints of increasing anti-Semitism in the Labour Party - said this morning: "What Naz Shah did was offensive and unacceptable. I have spoken to her and made this clear.

"These are historic social media posts made before she was a Member of Parliament.

"Naz has issued a fulsome apology. She does not hold these views and accepts she was completely wrong to have made these posts.

"The Labour Party is implacably opposed to anti-Semitism and all forms of racism."

But he did not take any further disciplinary action until this afternoon, despite his office having been told by shadow energy secretary Lisa Nandy that procedures must be applied "without exception".

David Cameron then waded into the row, telling the Commons: "Anti-Semitism is racism and we should call it out and fight it wherever we see it.

"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."

Pointing to recent comments by Mr McDonnell that people with such views should be excluded - even if they claim to have reformed their views - Mr Cameron added: "Frankly it'll be too many hours in the day before it happens to the MP in question".

"Perhaps if you could deal with anti-Semites in your own party, we'd all be prepared to listen to you a bit more," he said.

Earlier in the day, before the suspensions, Ms Nandy told BBC2's Daily Politics: "I made clear my view to the leader's office that we should suspend anybody who makes anti-Semitic remarks, in line with our policy, and investigate.

"It is right that we look at the circumstances around what has happened. But I think our policy is absolutely clear that we suspend people and then investigate.

"There is a real problem for the Labour Party if we don't look like we are taking these things seriously. But this is not just about the impact on the Labour Party, there is also the question here about what is the right thing to do.

"And the right thing to do here is to make sure that we do not tolerate anti-Semitism at all."

Ms Shah today issued an "unequivocal apology" through the Jewish News website.

Her statement started with the words: "I am sorry."

She went on to say it was "important that I 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."

She said the language she used was "wrong" and "hurtful".

She added: "Hindsight is a wonderful thing and I’m shocked myself at the language I used in some instances during the Gaza-Israel conflict."

Asked why Mr Corbyn had not suspended Ms Shah, a senior Labour aide earlier said: "Because the Labour leader has met with her, she has made it clear she does not hold those views and she has apologised for those and made it clear in her actions that she does not support those views.

"The leader of the Labour Party made it clear to her that it was offensive and unacceptable. We've made it clear that we won't tolerate anti-Semitism or any form of racism and that's where we are today."

The aide said Mr Corbyn had met Ms Shah "as an MP". Suspensions were a matter for the party's ruling National Executive Committee, which will "consider" allegations of anti-Semitism at its next meeting.

He accepted that the remark in the Facebook post was anti-Semitic, but added that Ms Shah had said she was now personally "shocked" by her own actions of two years ago.

"We are not suggesting she is anti-Semitic. We are saying that she made remarks that she does not agree with," he said.

A senior Downing Street source later told reporters that Mr Corbyn should "act today" to suspend Ms Shah from the party.

The Number 10 source said the Labour leader's failure to suspend the MP was "a disgraceful decision and Jeremy Corbyn should be ashamed of himself".

"If Labour had a shred of decency, she would be immediately suspended from the party," he said.

"For somebody sitting on the Labour benches to talk about a `solution'

for the people of Israel to be their transportation to America is unacceptable."

He added: "This MP is still in the Labour Party and has not been suspended and it's shameful for the Labour Party. This is a huge test of leadership for Jeremy Corbyn.

"He now needs to face up and address this issue and suspend her immediately or he will send a very clear message to the people of Britain and in particular the Jewish community in Britain."

The source said there was "clearly a problem" within the Labour Party around anti-Semitism, adding: "Any leader worth his salt needs to address this, because as the PM said, this is racism.

"We've had a series of stories in recent weeks about this issue, people being suspended and readmitted, the party seems unable to decide what approach to take and we've now got a very clear case of an MP who is sitting on the Labour benches and was until yesterday PPS to the shadow chancellor using language which is completely beyond the pale and the leadership has failed to act.

"That's completely unacceptable and Jeremy Corbyn needs to act today and suspend this woman."

Mr McDonnell told The Independent in March: "If people express these views, full stop they're out."

Asked if bans should be permanent, he said: "My own view is yes. People might be able to reform their views and the rest of it. On this? I can't see it.

"People might say 'I've changed my views' - well, do something in another organisation."

Labour MP Kate Hoey said Ms Shah should resign from the home affairs select committee "right away" and called for the party to hold an investigation.

She told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme: "It may well be that she should be suspended from the whip immediately with then a view to an investigation into looking into and seeing whether she genuinely accepts that she does not believe what she said and would make an apology to the people of Israel ...who she really was saying some dreadful things about."

Nusrat Ghani, a member of the home affairs committee, said Ms Shah was no longer able to sit on its inquiry as a "neutral individual".

She told the programme: "She should excuse herself from the inquiry that is looking into the rise of anti-Semitism."

Labour's David Winnick, who is understood to have asked the committee to launch the inquiry into anti-Semitism, said he did not believe Ms Shah should step aside from the inquiry.

He said: "She has apologised. It would be useful for her to listen to the witnesses from the Jewish community about growing anti-Semitism."

Mr McDonnell told The Independent in March that people who expressed anti-Semitic views should be permanently expelled from Labour.

"My own view is yes. People might be able to reform their views and the rest of it. On this? I can't see it. People might say 'I've changed my views' - well, do something in another organisation."

Asked if that should apply to Ms Shah, he told Sky News: "She has done the right thing. She has admitted the mistake, she has apologised, she has resigned her position as my PPS (parliamentary private secretary).

"It is now a formal process for the party to consider the matter. My views are very, very clear on this. We will await the outcome of that."