Labour’s Shadow Foreign Secretary has attacked former London Mayor Ken Livingstone over his comments about Jewish voters.

Douglas Alexander said Mr Livingstone was “wrong” to suggest that “wealthy Jews” would not vote for him in the capital's mayoral election earlier this year.

In an interview with London’s Evening Standard newspaper ahead of the Labour Party conference, Mr Alexander said: “Ken’s campaign too often looked like the past rather than the future.

“And when I saw his remarks about the Jewish community in London in particular, I didn’t just think it was ill-advised, I thought it was wrong.”

The JC revealed in March that prominent Labour-supporting Jewish Londoners had written a devastating letter to Ed Miliband expressing their profound concerns about Mr Livingstone’s candidacy.

Their letter said that in a meeting with Mr Livingstone he had “stated that he did not expect the Jewish community to vote Labour as votes for the left are inversely proportional to wealth levels, and suggested that as the Jewish community is rich we simply wouldn't vote for him”.

Mr Livingstone has since said the letter was a “tissue of lies” and that his comments had been misunderstood.