The artist, Mear One, wrote that the painting was about to be removed. Corbyn replied: "Why? You are in good company. Rockerfeller [sic] destroyed Diego Viera's [sic] mural because it includes a picture of Lenin."

Some Labour supporters said Corbyn had done nothing wrong; others were appalled. The writer Michael Segalov said: "It’s not just the big, hooked noses and evil expressions that make this iconography offensive and troubling, these depictions mirror anti-Semitic propaganda used by Hitler and the Nazis to whip up hatred that led to the massacre of millions of Jews."

At first, Labour released a statement defending Corbyn, saying he was responding to concerns about freedom of speech, adding: "However, the mural was offensive, used antisemitic imagery, which has no place in our society, and it is right that it was removed."

Labour MP Luciana Berger, who asked for an explanation from the leader's office, said this response was "wholly inadequate".

So later on, as the row intensified, a second statement appeared in which Corbyn said: "I sincerely regret that I did not look more closely at the image I was commenting on, the contents of which are deeply disturbing and anti-Semitic."