Jeremy Corbyn told an audience at the Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival that he was “upset” when a Jewish Labour MP called him an antisemite

Jeremy Corbyn has defended Labour’s stance on antisemitism after one of his frontbenchers said the party was in a “very, very dark place” with the Jewish community.

Mr Corbyn urged his MPs to postpone an emergency meeting in which they will attempt to override a decision by the party’s national executive committee (NEC) to remove elements of the international definition of antisemitism from Labour’s code of conduct.

Mr Corbyn told an audience at the Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival in Dorset that the meeting would be better attended in September because parliament is due to rise on Tuesday. He was speaking after The Sunday Times revealed that his team was facing two legal challenges from Jewish campaigners over the row.

Defending the omission of the International Holocaust