Labour MP Dame Margaret Hodge has said speaking out about antisemitism within her party was the most important thing she has done in her political life.

She was speaking at the Spectator Awards after received the best speech award on Wednesday for her words during a House of Commons debate on the subject.

That speech included a powerful account of how members of her family had been killed by the Nazis, and how, on a visit to Auschwitz, she saw a mound of suitcases including one which bore her uncle’s initials.

Guest at the awards applauded Dame Margaret, who earlier this year was embroiled in a row with her party after she accused Jeremy Corbyn of being an "antisemite" and a "racist" to his face.

Labour dropped an investigation into the conduct of Dame Margaret after the party’s threat of disciplinary action became the epicentre of the row over its failure to adopt the internationally recognised definition of antisemitism.

She told them: “The serious point that I want to make is that my children are the first generation in my family who haven’t had to leave a country because of discrimination and racism.”

She said that fighting for her children and “bringing that personal together with the political maybe really difficult, but it is probably the most important thing that I have done in my political life.”

She also paid tribute to her female colleagues in parliament, “particularly the Jewish women in the Labour Party who stood up to be counted in the battle about antisemitism.”

She made the crowd laugh when she confessed she never expected her Jewish identity to become would “central” to her politics but it did because of the row.

“I remember my dad tried to make me Jewish and failed, the local rabbi tried to make me Jewish and failed, my Jewish friends tried to make me Jewish and failed. It took the Leader of the Labour Party to do that,” she said.

“But of course I’m Jewish so I haven’t got a sense of irony,” she added, a reference to Mr Corbyn's unearthed claim that Zionists lack "English irony".

During the speech given as part of the Commons debate in April, for which she received the award, Dame Margaret described how she had joined the Labour Party in the 1960s because it stood up for minorities and against racism.

“I never ever thought I would experience significant antisemitism as a member of the Labour party,” she said.

“I have, and it has left me feeling an outsider in the party of which I’ve been a member for over 50 years… I have never felt as nervous and frightened as I feel today about being a Jew.

“It feels that my party has given permission for antisemitism to go unchallenged. Antisemitism is making me an outsider in my Labour Party.”