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The decision to suspend Corbyn was taken by the party's disciplinary unit, rather than Starmer, who saw the statement just moments before he was due to give a press conference on the report. Multiple Labour sources said there was a sense of shock in the headquarters at Corbyn's statement.

Asked about Corbyn's response to the report, Starmer told reporters that he would "look carefully" at his predecessor's comments. Two hours later, the party suspended Corbyn and withdrew the Labour whip.

A Labour spokesman said:

"In light of his comments made today and his failure to retract them subsequently, the Labour party has suspended Jeremy Corbyn pending investigation. He has also had the whip removed from the parliamentary Labour party."

However, Corbyn said he had been obstructed by party officials in trying to tackle the issue.

"One antisemite is one too many, but the scale of the problem was also dramatically overstated for political reasons by our opponents inside and outside the party, as well as by much of the media. That combination hurt Jewish people and must never be repeated. My sincere hope is that relations with Jewish communities can be rebuilt and those fears overcome. While I do not accept all of its findings, I trust its recommendations will be swiftly implemented to help move on from this period."

After his suspension, Corbyn said he would "strongly contest the political intervention to suspend me" - suggesting he believed it was done on Starmer's direct orders.

"I've made absolutely clear those who deny there has been an antisemitism problem in the Labour party are wrong. I will continue to support a zero tolerance policy towards all forms of racism."

Labour's former deputy leader Harriet Harman said Corbyn's suspension was the right thing to do.

"If you say that AS [antisemitism] exaggerated for factional reasons you minimise it and are, as Keir Starmer says, part of the problem."

Angela Rayner, Labour's deputy leader, who was promoted to the shadow cabinet under Corbyn, said the former party leader had

"an absolute blind spot. I'm devastated that it's come to this. Today should be about really listening, reading and taking in the report. I think that brings shame on us, and there's no mitigation of that, and we have to acknowledge that and do something about it." Rayner said she was "deeply, deeply upset by the circumstances, and upset that Jeremy wasn't able to see the pain that the Jewish community have gone through. Jeremy is a fully decent man, but as Margaret Hodge said, he has an absolute blind spot, and a denial, when it comes to these issues. And that's devastating."

Dame Margaret Hodge, the Labour MP and JLM's parliamentary chair, said Corbyn

"sat at the centre of a party that enabled antisemitism to spread from the fringes to the mainstream. There is an absolutely entrenched cultural challenge, and diverting it into somebody who is irrelevant in the Labour party today ... it just doesn't matter. What matters are the commitments that Keir Starmer gave today. Jeremy is part of the past. I want to move on."

Corbyn said:

"Anyone claiming there is no antisemitism in the Labour party is wrong. Of course there is, as there is throughout society, and sometimes it is voiced by people who think of themselves as on the left. Jewish members of our party and the wider community were right to expect us to deal with it, and I regret that it took longer to deliver that change than it should."