Suspended MP Chris Williamson condemned for plans to speak at Labour conference fringe events

“This is inappropriate on every level and the Labour Party must make sure it does not indulge this kind of activity. [Mr Williamson] is currently subject to a disciplinary hearing – on that basis, he should not be granted a pass to conference and nor should he be turning up to wind everyone up.

“This is problematic and unnecessary, particularly given that we’re in Brighton, where we’ve seen some appalling antisemitic abuse from within the Labour Party. I don’t think this is appropriate at all.”

Mr Williamson, who is not expected to receive a security pass to the main conference while he is suspended, said his critics were “mischief-makers” who should “pipe down”.

Mr Williamson faced repeated calls for him to be suspended from Labour for regularly seeking to downplay and dismiss antisemitism in the party.

The MP finally had the whip withdrawn when he was filmed claiming the party had been "too apologetic" over antisemitism.

Prior to his suspension, Mr Williamson was branded a "Jew-baiter"  for signing a petition defending notorious antisemite Gilad Atzmon.

Ilford North MP Wes Streeting, who chairs the all-party parliamentary group on antisemitism, said: “It beggars belief that people are still willing to give Chris Williamson a platform given his conduct. As he is suspended from the Labour Party he should not be speaking at events at our conference.”

Among the events Mr Williamson is listed as a speaker is a fringe event on a “green new deal” which is being hosted by the Gower Initiative for Modern Money Studies.

He told the Independent that he had also been booked to speak at a number of other events in Brighton and said he would not be deterred from speaking by “malcontents”.

He said: “I haven’t got a pass yet, but I will be speaking at various fringe events at this year’s Labour Party conference.

“It’s a tragedy that a tiny but noisy minority of party members want to trash the spirit of the Human Rights Act. It’s one of Labour’s greatest achievements. Maybe these malcontents have forgotten that Labour enshrined freedom of expression into British law nearly 21 years ago.

“If these mischief-makers are genuinely interest in winning the next election, they should pipe down and devote their energies to exposing the Tories and promoting a common sense socialist programme.”

Labour said the event Mr Williamson was expected to speak was not “part of our conference fringe and is not connected to Labour Party conference in any way”.

It comes after a venue in Brighton cancelled an event at which Mr Williamson was due to speak alongside the auction of a banned Steve Bell cartoon.

The Brighthelm Centre pulled out of hosting the event on Thursday following an intervention by Hove Labour MP Peter Kyle.

However, it appeared the event organiser Greg Hadfield had found a new venue, and the event is expected to take place on Thursday at 7pm at the Holiday Inn Brighton Seafront.

According to The Argus, the hotel would not confirm the event was happening due to “GDPR rules”.

But on Tuesday it emerged that the Holiday Inn Brighton Seafront had subsequently decided to cancel the booking after a stream of complaints about the decision to host the suspended MP.