Senior Labour figures were made aware of Jared O'Mara's "heinous" comments more than a month ago, the Telegraph can reveal, as Jeremy Corbyn suspended him from the party.

A party spokesman had previously claimed Labour was not told about the sexist, racist and misogynistic comments until this week, but an email has emerged showing the party's press office drafted a statement addressing the claims in September.

The story was not published and the comments were not investigated until this week when Mr O'Mara was suspended after days of pressure from both Labour and Conservative MPs.

The revelation casts doubt on both senior Labour figures and Mr O'Mara's account of events after he told a journalist he would have admitted his mistakes to colleagues earlier if he had remembered them.

On September 20 an email, seen by this newspaper, shows he issued an on-the-record statement apologising for the remarks but appearing to make light of them by claiming the were made 13 years ago.

The email, sent by Labour's press office, read: "My language when posting on this music site 13 years ago is inappropriate. I regret the choice of words and apologise for any offence caused".

Since then further comments have come to light, including posts he made in 2009 which describe lewd sexual acts.