Britain's opposition Labour Party on Thursday (April 28) suspended former London mayor Ken Livingstone after he said Hitler supported Zionism, in a furious row over anti-Semitism that is dividing the party.

"Ken Livingstone has been suspended by the Labour Party, pending an investigation, for bringing the party into disrepute," a Labour spokesman said.

Mr Livingstone told BBC Radio London: "When Hitler won his election in 1932 his policy then was that Jews should be moved to Israel. He was supporting Zionism before he went mad and ended up killing six million Jews."

He was defending Labour MP Naz Shah, who was suspended on Wednesday for sharing allegedly anti-Semitic posts on social media.

"I have been in the Labour Party for 40 years and I have never heard anyone say anything anti-Semitic.

"I have heard a lot of criticism for the state of Israel and its abuse of Palestinians, but I have never heard someone be anti-Semitic," he added. afp