Laura Hughes, political correspondent
27 OCTOBER 2016 • 4:46PM
A peer and former Lib Dem MP has been suspended from the party after hosting an event where the audience applauded the suggestion that Jewish people were responsible for the Holocaust.
Baroness Tonge, who sits as an independent in the Lords, hosted a meeting in Parliament where a speaker compared Israel to terror group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Her suspension comes after a spokesman for the Israeli embassy described the event as "a shameful event" that "gave voice to racist tropes against Jews and Israelis alike".
House of Lords
The Palestinian Return Centre, which live streamed the event on its Facebook page, said the event inside Parliament was part of its Balfour apology campaign - which calls for the UK Government to "officially apologise for its past colonial crimes in Palestine".
One member of the audience was applauded after they claimed that “if anybody is antisemitic, it’s the Israelis themselves.”
She was photographed campaigning earlier this week with Sarah Olney, the Lib Dem's candidate in the Richmond Park by-election.
Screen shot of Lib Dem tweet
A Lib Dem spokesperson said: "The party has suspended the membership of Jenny Tonge. We take her comments very seriously and have acted accordingly.”
Cabinet minister David Lidington told MPs he was "genuinely horrified" by reports of the remarks.
Speaking in the Commons Mr Lidington said: "I read the newspaper reports of the event in question and I confess I was genuinely horrified by the speech that was reported there.
The peer has been suspended from the Lib Dem Party CREDIT: CHRIS RATCLIFFE/BLOOMBERG
"I don't want to treat every newspaper article as gospel but I think we should all be very concerned about what happened there. "And I hope that since this appears to be an event organised by a leading member of the Liberal Democrat party, that the leader of the party does launch an immediate and thorough investigation so we can get to the truth and any appropriate disciplinary action can be taken."
In the Lords Lady Tonge lists her party as "independent Liberal Democrat".
In 2010 she was sacked as the party's health spokeswoman in the Lords after calling for an inquiry into allegations that Israeli soldiers supporting the relief effort in Haiti had been involved with organ-trafficking.
Lady Tonge was a Lib Dem MP between 1997 and 2005, when she entered the Lords. She has regularly run into controversy for her critical stance towards Israel. In 2004, she was sacked as a Lib Dem spokeswoman on children's issues after suggesting she could consider becoming a suicide bomber.
