Sir Eric Pickles urged to apologise over false anti-Semitic claim

Sir Eric Pickles was Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government for five years

Sir Eric Pickles has been urged to apologise to a council leader over false claims of anti-Semitism.

The former Communities Secretary wrote to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn calling for "John Clarke" to be suspended from the party for an anti-Israel tweet.

He mistook John Clarke of Nottinghamshire's Gedling Borough Council with John Clarke, who sits on Black Notley Parish Council in Essex.

The Essex councillor has denied he holds anti-Semitic views.

A Conservative spokesman said: "We apologise to Councillor Clarke for the mistake made."

'Outrageous slur'

Michael Payne, deputy leader of Gedling Borough Council, said he wanted Sir Eric to withdraw his "disgraceful" comments.

He said: "It's an outrageous slur against John and we're calling on Mr Pickles to apologise personally and publicly for this."

"They've clearly done research in writing this letter, but haven't done the basics. Apologise now - you are plain wrong."

Jeremy Corbyn has said in the past that the Labour Party would "investigate immediately" any form of anti-Semitism in the party

Mr Corbyn launched an independent inquiry into anti-Semitism and other forms of racism in the Labour Party in April 2016 headed by Baroness Chakrabati, former head of the campaign group Liberty.

Her report found the party was not overrun by anti-Semitism but there was evidence of "minority hateful or ignorant attitudes and behaviours".

Sir Eric, Conservative MP for Brentwood and Ongar, wrote in the letter to Mr Corbyn: "This is an opportunity for you to demonstrate that Labour is committed to the new definition of anti-Semitism.

"Failure to do so would be an appalling dereliction of duty to Jewish people across the country and will raise serious questions about your commitment to stamping out anti-Semitism in Labour."

Sir Eric, chairman of Conservative Friends of Israel, was awarded a knighthood in 2015.