Jeremy Corbyn's own constituency party has been caught up in the ongoing crisis over antisemitism.

Around 230 party members attended a meeting of Islington North CLP on Wednesday night to decide on whether to endorse Mr Corbyn or his rival, Owen Smith, in the party leadership contest.

Such was the interest in the meeting, some 150 people were forced to stand outside the packed venue.

According to multiple sources, one Corbyn supporter told the meeting “it's very difficult to get elected in this country without the support of Rupert Murdoch and the Israeli ambassador".

Padraig Reidy, a journalist who was at the meeting, wrote that: “The speaker contended that anyone who stood up for Palestinians was 'smeared' as an antisemite.”

According to tweets from people who were present, a woman who criticised the comment was shouted down by some members of the audience, while others supported her.

Steve Akehurst, a Labour Party member who was at the meeting, tweeted at that point, saying: “Meeting now dissolving into an open argument about whether randomly blaming Jews for things is antisemitic.”

Robbie Young, the LGBT officer of the National Union of Students, who was also present,tweeted that a speaker supporting Corbyn said “that antisemitism in the party is a factional lie.”

Another tweet, from Ana Oppenheim, a Corbyn supporter, said: “It was an awful meeting though and I hate voting the same way as people who defend antisemites and shout over women."

At the end of the session, 266 members voted for Mr Corbyn, while 100 voted for Mr Smith; there were four abstentions. Mr Corbyn was not present at the meeting.

Lindsay Thomas, chair of Islington North Labour Party, said: "It was a very large and lively meeting. I was not aware of any antisemitic remarks being made.

"Two of the more than 20 speakers raised the issue of antisemitism and I, as chair, felt the need to remind both of them of the sensitivity of this subject and the need to take care to choose their words carefully.

"I was not pointing to something antisemitic having been said."

On Friday Mr Corbyn's spokesman responded to the claims and said: "Anyone with allegations of antisemitism should report them to the party, which will then decide whether an investigation will take place."