Vicki Kirby, the vice chair of the Labour’s Woking branch who tweeted Jews have “big noses” and “slaughter the oppressed”, has been suspended from the party after MPs attacked the leadership’s lack of action.
Jeremy Corbyn’s office had initially rejected calls for her suspension by saying the offensive messages had been previously investigated and led to discipline, adding they would only act on “new evidence”.
However the party has now stepped in after Mr Corbyn was openly challenged by some of Labour’s most prominent backbencher’s over his failure to intervene over the row.
Yvette Cooper, the former work and pensions secretary, and Tristram Hunt, the shadow education secretary, were reportedly among MPs to raise the case during Labour’s weekly parliamentary meeting on Monday night.
The about turn-was welcomed by party figures but there were warnings the delayed response had done “damage” to the party.
Wes Streeting, the Labour MP for Ilford North attending a conference on anti-Semitism on Berlin, suggest he felt “ashamed” by the leadership’s handling of the row.
Anyone in Labour who expresses anti-Semitic views must be “confronted and if need be stamped out of the party”- Lord Mandelson #wato
— The World at One (@BBCWorldatOne) March 15, 2016
“It is hard to underestimate the damage being done to the Labour Party. I am disturbed by those who have criticised those of us who have spoken out,” he wrote on Facebook.
“Can you imagine what we would be saying if this was happening in the Conservative Party or UKIP? I am reminded of the words spoken by Dr King when he said ‘In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.’”
Andy Burnham, the shadow home secretary, said it was right to act over the “completely abhorrent” comments after hearing the news during an interview with BBC Two’s Daily Politics.
He added: “To be honest, for a party that believes in true equality and has always fought racism and xenophobia of all kinds we have to maintain full public confidence in our procedures.
“And I want there to be no question at all that our party has no tolerance at all of any form of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia or any kind of racism.”
Offensive tweets posted by Ms Kirby before Mr Corbyn became Labour leader resurfaced after it emerged she had been made vice chair of the party’s Woking branch.
“I will never forget and I will make sure my kids teach their children how evil Israel is”, she wrote in one message.
In another she said: “Apparently you can ask IS/ISIS/ISIL questions on ask.fm. Anyone thought of asking them why they’re not attacking the real oppressors #Israel?”
A third tweet sent in 2011 read: “What do you know abt Jews? They’ve got big noses and support Spurs lol.” Another suggested Jews “slaughter the oppressed.”
On Monday, a Labour spokesman said Ms Kirby had resigned as a parliamentary candidate, been reprimanded and later had her suspension lifted in the past.
“If new evidence comes to light, the Labour Party will review that evidence and make sure the rules of the party are upheld,” the spokesman added.
However around noon on Tuesday the party announced: “Vicki Kirby has been suspended from the Labour Party pending an investigation.”
The about-turn will likely raise questions about why the party failed to act on Monday when headlines had been running throughout the day over a string of offensive messages previously posted by Ms Kirby.
In a separate intervention, Jo Johnson, the universities minister, expressed concern about reports of anti-Semitic comments being made at Labour’s student club at Oxford University.
Mr Johnson said: “Anti-Semitism has no place in our universities or anywhere else in our society … we expect university leaders to deal with anti-Semitism without any hesitation, taking disciplinary action and involving the police wherever necessary.”
Ms Kirby has been contacted for a response to the news. She did not respond to requests for a comment on Monday.