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Labour Left-wingers refused to honour a minute’s silence in honour of the late Tessa Jowell and heckled during a fractious branch meeting.

Members of Hampstead and Kilburn constituency Labour Party said they were shocked when a woman shouted that Baroness Jowell had voted to “murder a lot of people” by backing welfare reforms and she would not take part in the silence to respect her memory. A small group of Left-wing activists at the meeting then declined to take part.

The incident happened on May 16, a few days after the popular former Olympics minister died, aged 70, from a brain tumour. She was praised across the political spectrum for helping to bring the Olympic Games to London in 2012, rolling out Sure Start centres and campaigning for better cancer treatment.

The silence was held to commemorate both her work on the national stage and as a Camden councillor between 1971 and 1986.

The heckler appeared to pick out Baroness Jowell’s role as a close ally of Tony Blair and stalwart of New Labour. A source said: “There was quite a lot of heckling and one person shouted that Tessa Jowell had voted for murders of lots of people. They instead wanted to hold a minute’s silence for Gaza.

“It was pretty upsetting for people in the room who knew Tessa well as she had a lot of connections to the area and was a member of the constituency party when she was a councillor.”

The party’s constituency secretary Helen Brown said: “The serious incident will not be ignored and shall be dealt with accordingly.”

The meeting was being chaired for the first time by newly appointed CLP chief Leao Neto, who continued with the minute’s silence despite the heckling.

Leader of the Commons Andrea Leadsom today called the incident “hateful” and stressed the need for greater tolerance in local politics.

Ex-Camden councillor Phil Rosenberg said: “The standard of behaviour at Hampstead and Kilburn Constituency Labour Party has long ceased to be acceptable, and it seems that a lack of discernible action from the Labour Party is allowing it to plumb new depths.”