Amber Rudd has accused her local Constituency Labour Party (CLP) of "repeated and flagrant acts of Jew-baiting" and called on Jeremy Corbyn to place it under special behavioural measures.

The Work and Pensions Minister, who is MP for Hastings and Rye, intervened after activists in the CLP passed a motion calling for Derby North MP Chris Williamson to be reinstated to the party.

It claimed that allegations of widespread Jew-hate in Labour were a "cheap political football” and “criminally misused in an unscrupulous bid to destroy the Corbyn-led Labour party” with "staged resignations”.

Ms Rudd said: “Jewish people in Hastings and Rye deserve far better than a local Labour Party obsessed with peddling conspiracy theories about Jewish people.

“For too long, the Labour Party in Hastings and Rye has deliberately goaded and baited Jews with hateful language and got away with it.

“This latest salvo is a disgrace and shows that the local party is infected with antisemitism.

“And now Jeremy Corbyn must immediately place the CLP under special behavioural measures and personally oversee efforts to treat this infection.”

The Hastings & Rye CLP motion said there was an “orchestrated campaign” over the party's antisemitism.

It called for the "immediate and conditional" reinstatement of Mr Williamson, who last week was suspended after he was revealed to have said the party was “too apologetic” about Jew-hate.

Ken Maitland, chair of Hastings and Rye CLP, rejected Ms Rudd's comments.

He said: "We are a vibrant, welcoming and diverse local party which is absolutely committed to fighting racism and antisemitism.”

A Labour spokesman said: “Downplaying the problem of antisemitism is offensive and makes it harder for us to tackle it.

“Motions about individual disciplinary cases are not competent business for CLPs, which are not involved in individual disciplinary cases and cannot influence them.

“We completely reject claims of institutional antisemitism.”