Ken Livingstone, who quit Labour last year after a long-standing suspension because of his comments about Hitler and Zionism, has called allegations of Labour antisemitism "lies and smears" to bring down Jeremy Corbyn.
As revealed by the Mail on Sunday, the ex-London mayor told a meeting of Labour Against the Witchhunt last week: "This is endemic. If you have a genuine socialist leader who is going to transform things for ordinary people and make the bloody corporations pay their fair share of tax – they will do whatever is necessary to stop you...
"That means lies and smears in most of the West. In other parts of the world it can mean assassination."
In recounting his how he was suspended for his comments in April, 2016, he also said: "Of course, Jeremy's office didn't want this to happen."
