Labour frontbencher calls for Margaret Hodge and Ian Austin investigations to be dropped

Labour party probes into MPs Margaret Hodge and Ian Austin should be "quietly dropped", according to one of Jeremy Corbyn's frontbench team.



Shadow Treasury minister Anneliese Dodds's comments echo those of deputy leader Tom Watson, who has also called for the investigations to be abandoned.

Disciplinary action was launched against Ms Hodge - who lost relatives in the Holocaust - after she called Jeremy Corbyn "an anti-Semitic racist" over Laabour's refusal to fully adopt the internaationally-recognised definition of anti-Semitism.

Mr Austin, whose father fled the Nazis, is being hauled over the coals after an altercation with Labour chairman Ian Lavery over the same issue.

Asked on the BBC's Westminster Hour whether she believed the investigations should continue, Ms Dodds said she agreed with her boss, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, who has suggested they should be scrapped.

She said: "My personal view is I don't really see the merit in pursuing this. What John McDonnell said about this was perfectly reasonable. He said people can say things in the heat of the moment but actually these cases really should just quietly dropped."

Tom Watson sparked a furious backlash from Mr Corbyn's supporters after he told The Observer: "I think it is very important that we all work to de-escalate this disagreement, and I think it starts with dropping the investigations into Margaret Hodge and Ian Austin.

"I have frequently had very difficult conversations with both Margaret and Ian but what I understand is that your critics are not your enemies. On an issue that is so dear to them, I think people are very, very concerned that these investigations should be dropped quickly."