A union boss who promoted a conspiracy theory about the Jewish Labour Movement now faces being booted out of the party over his alleged link to a banned hard-left group.

Ian Hodson, elected president of the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU), has become the latest high-profile Labour member to receive a letter threatening auto-expulsion over his alleged involvement in one of four organisations banned by the party’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC). The BFAWU, which has 17,000 members, is threatening to break away from Labour in protest.

Friends of Mr Hodson denied he was antisemitic and dismissed complaints against him as “lies and smears” – but it emerged this week he had shared a conspiracy theory about the Jewish Labour Movement (JLM).

In 2017, he promoted an article that claimed JLM had been “implicated” in the “efforts of the Israeli embassy to damage a Corbyn-led Labour party with confected allegations of antisemitism”. The article claimed an investigation by Al Jazeera had shown JLM was “acting as a front for the Israeli government’s efforts to oust Corbyn”.

Sarah Woolley, general secretary of the BFAWU, issued a robust defence of Mr Hodson. “Let me be clear,” she tweeted, “Ian (Hodson) is no racist, he isn’t antisemitic and BFAWU are proud to have him as their president.” BFAWU said it “stood in absolute solidarity with our elected National President”.

The NEC proscribed four hard-left factions at its last meeting in July – Labour in Exile Network, Labour Against the Witch-Hunt (LAW), Resist and Socialist Appeal. Mr Hodson is allegedly a sponsor of LAW.