Labour MP Naz Shah suspended by party over antisemitic Facebook posts

Naz Shah has been suspended from the Labour Party amid controversy over a social media post appearing to endorse the relocation of Israelis to the US.

It comes as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called in Ms Shah, the Bradford West MP, for a personal reprimand a day after she quit as an aide to shadow Chancellor John McDonnell and apologised for the antisemitic comments.

A Labour spokesperson 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.”

Speaking in the Commons today the MP said she “wholeheartedly apologises” for the words she used in a Facebook post. Speaker John Bercow said they had been “noted by the House”.

David Cameron, speaking at Prime Minister’s questions, said it was “quite extraordinary” that Ms Shah has not already been suspended from the Labour Party.

In a Facebook post in 2014, before she became MP for Bradford West, 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".

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."

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell told The Independent in March that “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."

Ms Shah told MPs in the Commons: "I wholeheartedly apologise to this House for the words I used before I became a member. I accept and understand that the words I used caused upset and hurt to the Jewish community and I deeply regret that.

"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."

Ms Shah wrote in 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."

But striking a different tone from others in Labour Ken Livingstone, the former London Mayor and close friend of Mr Corbyn, said Ms Shah's remarks were not anti-Semitic and the suspension was unnecessary.

"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,” he said.

"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."