The leader of Brent Council - who was forced to apologise last week after he compared Israel to Daesh in a Facebook post - has sent an email to colleagues warning them to alter their privacy settings on social media.

Labour’s Muhammed Butt sent the private email to colleagues after he shared a Facebook post of a Palestinian girl with an Israeli soldier with a message that warned: ‘Israel is a terrorist state like Isis’.

He shared the post in April. It has since been deleted and Mr Butt later apologised.

But his email to fellow Labour councillors today read: “I urge all of you to look at your privacy settings on all your social media accounts and be aware of all your posts and comments that others could be making without your knowledge.”

Conservative councillor Michael Maurice said he was shocked by the email, which he has seen.

Mr Maurice told the JC: “I have known Muhammed Butt for a long time because I went to all the forums before I joined the Conservative Party.

“I am very weary of what is actually going on. I know people in the Labour party who are also very concerned about this.

“It’s happening all over the country. I think a lot of it was suppressed because of the mayoral election.”

He has supported calls for Mr Butt to step down from council head.

Mr Butt has quit his role as the head of equalities at the London Councils umbrella group. Mr Butt said: “Last month I shared a Facebook post in error and apologise again.”

He said he retained his “passion for delivering the equalities agenda” but would not seek re-election to the London Council role.

Mr Maurice also called for the resignation of Labour councillor Aslam Choudry, who shared a Facebook post that called Zionists "worse than animals".

Mr Choudry has since removed the post from his page.

He said: “I shared the video without realising what was in it and apologise unreservedly.

"The views expressed in the video are abhorent and deeply offensive. There is no place in society for any form of antisemitism.”