This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Labour has suspended a controversial member of its ruling national executive committee (NEC) after he was recorded claiming that an Israeli agent had infiltrated the party.

Pete Willsman, an ally of Jeremy Corbyn, also said the Jewish state was behind some of the antisemitism allegations – which he described as “total lies” – that have engulfed the party.

In a recording first disclosed by the radio station LBC, Willsman said: “It’s almost certain who is behind all this antisemitism against Jeremy: almost certainly, it was the Israeli embassy.

“They caught somebody in the Labour party who it turns out is an agent in the embassy.”

Play Video 0:33 Pete Willsman: Israel behind Labour antisemitism claims – listen

Two days ago, the Equality and Human Rights Commission launched an inquiry into antisemitism in Labour, an unprecedented move for a major UK party. NEC members will be responsible for responding to the investigation into allegations of institutional racism.

A Labour party spokeswoman said on Friday: “Peter Willsman has been suspended from the Labour party, pending investigation.”

He would not be able to attend NEC meetings or perform any other functions, sources confirmed.

According to LBC, Willsman made the comments in January when he met the American-Israeli author Tuvia Tenenbom, who was in the UK to write a book and was seeking an interview with Corbyn.

Tenenbom, who recorded their conversation, pressed Willsman for proof the Israeli embassy was directing attacks against the Labour party. In comments that Willsman said were “off the record”, he said: “The people that are in the Labour party doing it are people who are linked. One of them works indirectly with the embassy. So obviously, I wouldn’t be bothered to find out, but my guess would be they are the ones whipping it up all the time.”

Willsman claimed the Israeli government had helped to organise a letter from more than 60 rabbis criticising Labour that was published by the Guardian.

“In the Guardian not long ago we had 68 rabbis – obviously organised by the Israeli embassy – saying antisemitism in the Labour party is widespread and severe,” he said.

Earlier in the conversation, the interviewer asked Willsman for his name. He replied: “Peter. Red Pete. They call me Corbyn’s enforcer. But I said I don’t want to be called Corbyn’s enforcer because enforcers haven’t got no sense of humour.”

It is the second time in 10 months that Willsman has been suspended for alleged antisemitism.

Last July, Willsman claimed at an NEC meeting attended by Corbyn that some Jews were “Trump fanatics”, saying he would “not be lectured” by Jewish supporters of the US president “making up duff information without any evidence at all”.

Willsman apologised, saying he was “of course aware of appalling instances of antisemitism in the party”, he was “wholly determined to root it out of our movement” and he would undertake equality training.

Jewish groups and Labour MPs called on Friday for Willsman to be expelled.

In a letter signed by the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the Jewish Leadership Council and the Community Security Trust, they said Willsman’s words were “racist by any measure”.

The former minister Margaret Hodge said Willsman should “go now”, while Liz Kendall said his alleged views had “no place in our party”.

Labour has been at the centre of antisemitism claims for more than three years since the MP Naz Shah apologised for social media posts which she admitted were antisemitic.

Since then, the party has had hundreds of complaints alleging hostility and prejudice against Jewish people.

Amid the claims, Corbyn has expressed regret for sending an apparently supportive tweet in 2014 for an allegedly antisemitic mural. He later apologised after appearing at an event where a Holocaust survivor compared Israel to Nazism.

Willsman has spent most of his career in Labour politics, playing a key role as a leftwinger on the NEC or fighting to get on it.

He was part of the Grassroots Alliance slate that humiliated Tony Blair at the height of his power in 1998, winning one of four spots on the party’s ruling body at the end of a bitterly fought campaign.

Labour has been asked if it has identified an Israeli agent who has worked inside the party and whether Willsman ever received equality training.

The party’s response to the recording will be closely scrutinised while a row goes on about the decision to exclude Tony Blair’s former communications chief Alastair Campbell for saying he had voted for the Liberal Democrats in the European elections.

Willsman has been approached for a comment.