Naz Shah suspended from Labour Pary over social media posts

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

A Labour 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."

The announcement came just an hour after Ms Shah made the latest in a series of apologies over the posts - telling the House of Commons she "profoundly" regretted her behaviour and insisting she had since learned.

Earlier, she was summoned by Mr Corbyn, who told her the comments were "offensive and unacceptable", but accepted that he believed she no longer held those views.

But shadow energy secretary Lisa Nandy was among Labour figures saying the party faced "real problems" if it was seen not to apply the same standards to MPs as to other activists.

And Prime Minister David Cameron said it was "quite extraordinary" Ms Shah had been allowed to remain in the party.

Ms Shah quit her role as a Parliamentary assistant to shadow chancellor John McDonnell yesterday.

In a 2014 Facebook post, 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 Guido Fawkes website - which published the post - 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 told MPs: "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."

A senior Labour aide 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.

It came as Labour MPs demanded answers from the leadership over reports it edited Ms Shah's article for Jewish News, removing references to anti-Semitism.

BuzzFeed news said 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", which did not appear in the version on the publication's website.

In another apparently dropped passage, she allegedly called for "an intersectional struggle, one where the concerns of Jewish individuals and communities are taken seriously and anti-Semitism is not dismissed out of hand or ignored".

References to a wider problem of anti-Semitism among left-wing activists - an issue on which Mr Corbyn has been under mounting pressure to act - were also missing in the final article, Buzzfeed said.

"We on the left must stop procrastinating and tackle oppression within our own ranks, especially anti-Jewish oppression," Ms Shah was said to have written.

In another change, "referencing Israel in comparison to Nazi Germany" was replaced with "referring to Israel and Hitler".

MP John Woodcock said: "This is incredibly serious - feel sick if this is as reported. Needs full explanation of whether true and who edited."

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."

Conservative candidate for London mayor Zac Goldsmith said that Ms Shah's comments reflected a wider problem within Labour which was making the party "unelectable".

Mr Goldsmith told the Press Association: "A lot of people say silly things and regret it, a lot of people make mistakes, but these comments are not accidental, they are about as offensive as it is possible to be to the Jewish community.

"These are words that are deliberately designed to bring back memories of the Holocaust, which is completely unforgivable in my opinion.

"This is not just about her. There is a problem in the Labour Party with anti-Semitism, and the Labour Party - if it wants to be treated as a respectable and serious party - has got to deal with that problem, and I don't believe it is.

"The Labour Party as a whole needs to get to grips with this issue. This is a once-great party and in my view it renders it unelectable."