ES News email The latest headlines in your inbox twice a day Monday - Friday plus breaking news updates Enter your email address Continue Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid You already have an account. Please log in Register with your social account or click here to log in I would like to receive lunchtime headlines Monday - Friday plus breaking news alerts, by email Update newsletter preferences

The Labour Party row over anti-Semitism took a series of tumultuous turns over the weekend resulting in the loss of one of its biggest private donors.

Sir David Garrard, who has donated around £1.5m since 2003, said he had now left the party after it failed to respond to "the most blatant acts of anti-Semitism".

Meanwhile Momentum chief Christine Shawcroft was forced to resign from her position on Labour's National Executive Committee, saying her membership had "become a distraction".

Finally, in a move befitting April Fool's Day, comedian Eddie Izzard looks set to replace Ms Shawcroft after just missing out on the post in a January election.

Anti-social media

The Sunday Times reported that 12 senior staff working for Jeremy Corbyn and shadow chancellor John McDonnell were members of social media groups containing anti-Semitic and violent comments.

The paper said an investigation into 20 of the biggest pro-Corbyn Facebook groups - numbering around 400,000 members - had uncovered routine attacks on Jewish people, including Holocaust denial.

Working with whistleblowers who were able to gain access to restricted membership groups, it said that it had uncovered more than 2,000 racist, anti-Semitic, misogynistic, violent and abusive messages.

A Labour source said such sites routinely received hundreds of postings a day, most of which were perfectly innocent messages about party policies or events.

Many of the staff concerned were either no longer active on Facebook or were unaware they were members of these and had not seen the content highlighted by the paper.

A Labour Party spokesman said: "These groups are not run by the Labour Party or officially connected to the party in any way.

"The Labour Party is committed to challenging and campaigning against anti-Semitism in all its forms. Any complaints of anti-Semitism are taken extremely seriously.

"These are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures and any appropriate disciplinary action taken."

However the Jewish Labour MP Luciana Berger - who is a regular target for abuse - said she and her staff had gone to the police over the abuse they had suffered from left-wingers, including one email urging her to kill herself.

"Where people indulge in illegal racist activity I will always use the full force of the law to pursue a prosecution," she said in an article for The Sunday Times.

"I will continue to do that even when they are people from the left."

Sir David Garrard quits

Following the revelations, Sir David, who donated to Labour under its previous three leaders, spoke of his disillusionment with the party under Jeremy Corbyn.

"I have watched with dismay and foreboding the manner in which the leadership has, in my view, over the last two years, conducted itself" he told The Observer.

"I consider that it has supported and endorsed the most blatant acts of anti-Semitism.

"And yet it has failed to expel many of those who have engaged in the grossest derogatory fantasies about Jewish/Zionist conspiracies - and Jewish characterisations and accusations which conjure up the very kind of anti-Semitic attacks that led to such unbearable consequences for innocent millions in the past."

Izzard set to replace Shawcroft on NEC

Ms Shawcroft, a left wing supporter of Jeremy Corbyn said her presence on the national executive committee (NEC) had become a "distraction" and was resigning with immediate effect.

She had been under intense pressure to give up her seat on the NEC as well, with many MPs furious after she claimed in a Facebook posting that the row was being "stirred up to attack Jeremy, as we all know".

Ms Shawcroft already quit as chairwoman of the party's disputes panel after it emerged she had opposed the suspension of a council candidate accused of Holocaust denial.

She said: "It is clear that my continued membership of the NEC has become a distraction for the party and an excuse for endless intrusive media harassment of myself, my family and friends."

Comedian Eddie Izzard, a long time party activist, now looks set to replace her.

“If we spend all our time fighting against each other, I don’t think that’s the way to go forward,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“We should be further ahead of the Tory party in the polls, that’s what I want to see.”

Prominent Labour supporters welcomed Mr Izzard's appointment, with musician Billy Bragg tweeting: “Christine Shawcroft is not an antisemite.

"She made a serious error of judgement, but parties that hope to form governments must expect to be held to higher standards.

"I campaigned with Eddie Izzard against the BNP in Barking and I welcome him to the NEC.”

Meanwhile actor Tony Robinson wrote: "If it’s true that Christine’s resignation means my old mate Eddie Izzard joins the NEC, that’s good news for the party.

"He’s smart, a free spirit and won’t take s*** from anybody."

Additional reporting by the Press Association