A senior Labour MP has told colleagues he will quit the party, it has emerged, hours after he called Jeremy Corbyn a 'racist antisemite'.

Mike Gapes, a former chairman of the Commons foreign affairs committee, told fellow MPs it was 'over' for him and said he was 'not prepared to support' Mr Corbyn.

Mr Gapes is said to have posted in a WhatsApp group on Thursday to say he would leave the party, adding: 'all that remains is the timing of my announcement', The Times reported.

He did not deny the claim when approached by MailOnline, saying: 'I'm not making any comment'.

The Labour leader has been at the centre of yet another anti-Semitism row this week after footage showed him saying British Zionists 'didn't want to study history' and had 'no sense of English irony'.

Mike Gapes, a former chairman of the foreign affairs committee (right), has slammed Jeremy Corbyn over a video of him making controversial comments in 2013 (still from video on left)

The Conservatives have reported Mr Corbyn to the parliamentary standards watchdog over a video of him at the Palestinian Return Centre in 2013.

Speaking at the London conference promoted by the propaganda website of terror group Hamas, he said British Zionists did not 'understand English irony'.

Mr Gapes, who has previously been targeted by online trolls after he suffered a heart attack, told fellow MPs: 'I am not prepared to support the racist antisemite. Period. It's over for me.'

But far-right leaders rallied behind Mr Corbyn.

Former British National Party head Nick Griffin and ex-grand wizard of the Klu Klux Klan David Duke posted supportive tweets.

Former British National Party head Nick Griffin came out in support of Mr Corbyn

'Go Jezza! I wonder how many Labour activists the hysterical Zionist media campaign against Corbyn is re-pilling?' Mr Griffin wrote.

Mr Corbyn said in the clip published by MailOnline: '[British Zionists] clearly have two problems. One is they don't want to study history, and secondly, having lived in this country for a very long time, probably all their lives, they don't understand English irony either.'

He added: 'They needed two lessons, which we could perhaps help them with.'

The Tory party claim Mr Corbyn's comments breach the code of conduct and bring Parliament into disrepute.

In a statement released on Friday evening, Mr Corbyn said he had been defending the ambassador from 'what I thought were deliberate misrepresentations' by people 'for whom English was a first language, when it isn't for the ambassador'.

He said: 'I described those pro-Israel activists as Zionists, in the accurate political sense and not as a euphemism for Jewish people – and that is made clear in the rest of my speech that day.

'I am now more careful with how I might use the term 'Zionist' because a once self-identifying political term has been increasingly hijacked by anti-Semites as code for Jews.'

Jeremy Corbyn makes his controversial remarks. On the far right is Daud Abdullah, who called for attacks on the Royal Navy and led a boycott of Holocaust Memorial Day. In the centre is Stephen Sizer, who suggested that Israel was behind the 9/11 attack

Jeremy Corbyn listens attentively to another of the speakers at the 2013 conference in London

Meanwhile a Jewish blogger who was targeted in Mr Corbyn's attack on 'Zionists' has demanded an apology from the Labour leader.

Richard Millett, whose father founded the Millets chain of outdoor clothing stores, said Jewish people were 'scared on a physical level' amid Labour's ongoing anti-Semitism crisis.

Mr Millett, 50, called it a 'racist comment' and said Mr Corbyn had implied Jewish people were 'not part of his Britain'.

Jewish Labour MP Luciana Berger had earlier said that the video contained 'inexcusable comments' which made her feel 'unwelcome in my own party'.

She wrote on Twitter: 'The video released today of the leader of @UKLabour making inexcusable comments - defended by a party spokesman - makes me as a proud British Jew feel unwelcome in my own party. I’ve lived in Britain all my life and I don’t need any lessons in history/irony.'

She was supported by fellow Labour backbenchers, with Newcastle North MP Catherine McKinnell tweeting: 'Standing right with you @lucianaberger.'

Sedgefield MP Phil Wilson wrote: 'Right beside you @lucianaberger.'

Jewish blogger Richard Millett, whose father founded the Millets clothing chain, demanded an apology from Mr Corbyn.

He said: 'I am English. I have been part of English irony, humour, culture, for the last 50 years. It just seems to be that I am not part of Jeremy Corbyn's Britain.'

Luciana Berger, the MP for Liverpool Wavertree, slammed the Labour leader for his comments from 2013 at a London conference promoted by the propaganda website of terror group Hamas

In recent weeks, the Labour leader has come under increasing pressure over a number of issues linked to anti-Semitism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

This includes the party's definition of anti-Semitism, his 2014 visit to a Palestinian cemetery in Tunisia and meetings with those connected to the Palestinian cause.

But senior Labour figures defended the party leader, with shadow chancellor John McDonnell saying he had devoted his life to securing peace in the Middle East.

Mr McDonnell told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I think this has all been taken out of context: whatever Jeremy has said throughout the years has always been about how to secure peace, particularly within the Middle East and also peace with justice for all concerned – both members of the Jewish community and also members of the Palestinian community.

'In that context Jeremy has devoted his life, so I think this would take expressions out of context in that way are not helping.'

Helen Grant´s letter to the Parliamentary Standard´s Commissioner asking her to investigate Jeremy Corbyn

Helen Grant, the Tory vice chairwoman for communities, has written to Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Kathryn Stone asking that Mr Corbyn be investigated over the comments.

The Maidstone MP argues it contravenes Clause 17 of the MPs' code of conduct, which states: 'Members shall never undertake any actions which would cause significant damage to the reputation and integrity of the House of Commons as a whole, or of its members generally.'

She said the comments had been branded 'xenophobic and anti-Semitic' by the chairman of the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism, and praised by Nick Griffin, the former leader of the far-right British National Party.

She wrote: 'Mr Corbyn has undoubtedly brought this House and its members into disrepute.

'This country has rightly always demanded more from our parliamentarians.

'It is clear that Mr Corbyn has not reached the bar set by the Code of Conduct for members, and I therefore ask that you investigate.'