A prominent Jeremy Corbyn-supporting lawyer has confirmed he has withdrawn from sponsoring the Labour Against The Witch Hunt group after being "alerted to material being promulgated by the campaign".

Barrister Michael Mansfield  - who defended Ken Livingstone against claims of antisemitism last year - was revealed to be a sponsor of the group in The Left’s Jewish Problem, a book by the Community Security Trust's Dave Rich, which explores the widening gulf between sections of the Jewish community and the Left.

LAWH says it defends supporters of Mr Corbyn who have been “expelled or suspended on bogus charges of antisemitism”.

But Mr Mansfield is believed to have ended his association with LAWH after he was shown inflammatory social media posts by people connected the group that used the term "Zio" and called Jewish Labour MPs "racist scum".

In a statement, Mr Mansfield said: "I joined the campaign LAWH in order to defend the right of those who wished to voice legitimate criticisms of the government of Israel and their repeated violation of International law from being unfairly categorised as antisemitism.

" An objective shared by fellow campaigners Moshe Machover, Ken Loach and Noam Chomsky.

"Recently I have been alerted to the material being promulgated by the campaign, (not by the supporters named above).

" I was unaware of this and both the tenor and content are unacceptable. For these reasons I wish to withdraw my sponsorship of the Campaign, whilst at the same time wishing to maintain my enduring support for a responsible and vigorous critique of any government which flagrantly undermines the rule of law."

The vice-chairman of LAWH is Tony Greenstein - who used antisemitic slurs including the term "Zio". He was expelled from Labour earlier this year.

Jackie Walker, who remains suspended by Labour over allegations of antisemitism, is another member of the group.