The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has called Labour's response to antisemitism a “national disgrace”.

Speaking at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference in Washington, he described the rise of antisemitism as a "cancer metastasising" in the Middle East, Europe and in the United States.

He told delegates attending the conference: “In Britain, the Labour Party’s tolerance of antisemitism in its ranks is a national disgrace. And France’s Jews are under attack.

"The incidence of antisemitic attacks in Germany is also on the rise. Indeed, hate crimes against Jews in this country have risen by one third since 2017.”

Mr Pompeo said that the Trump administration would vigorously oppose antisemitism.

"The Trump administration opposes it unequivocally and we will fight it relentlessly. Anti-Zionism is antisemitism."

His comments come after ex-Labour MP Joan Ryan told the conference that Jeremy Corbyn’s party “sunk so low, so fast” thanks to antisemitism.

In a speech at the Aipac conference, Ms Ryan said she would “never have believed three years ago” how Labour had been “taken over by the far left” and was now “riddled with antisemitism”.

Saying she was a “proud Zionist”, the Labour Friends of Israel chair said subsequent threats she had been sent by pro-Corbyn supporters after she announced her decision to join the Independent Group of MPs last month would only “strengthen my resolve” and would not “stop me doing my job.”