Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is investigating anti-Semitic allegations that Liverpool MP Dan Carden once sang "Hey Jews" to the Beatles song "Hey Jude".
Earlier today, reports emerged how the Walton politician sang the adapted version of the Fab Four hit on a coach while travelling back to London from the Cheltenham festival.
Carden, who serves in the shadow cabinet as the international development secretary, has denied the claims, and pointed out the story, first revealed by Buzz Feed, referred to an incident in March, 2018 - 20 months ago.
But Corbyn described it as "awful" and "totally unacceptable" if true.
Asked about the controversy, while on a visit to Leeds, he said: "Dan Carden has emphatically denied that.
"It is an awful story and if it's true it is utterly and totally unacceptable.
"I am looking into it."
Carden rubbished the claims about the private bus trip to London from the Cheltenham races in a statement on his Twitter account.
He said: "I have been categorical in my denial about allegations relating to a coach trip some twenty months ago.
"This was a coach full of journalists and MPs. If anyone genuinely believed any anti-Semitic behaviour had taken place, they would've had a moral responsibility to report it immediately.
"Yet this allegation is only made now when a General Election is imminent.
"I stand by my record as an anti-racist campaigner. I would never be part of any behaviour that undermines my commitment to fighting racism in all its forms."
It is also alleged that MP for St Helens North, Conor McGinn, a friend of Carden's, repeatedly described his pal as a "poof" as he drunkenly slumped across him, instructing him to "get off."
Former Labour whip McGinn, who reportedly spent much of the coach trip asleep, and is considering standing for the party’s deputy leadership after Tom Watson quit this week, has also issued a statement.
It said: "Conor’s record as a staunch supporter of the LGBT community speaks for itself.
"As an MP he led the campaign which delivered a monumental and historic change in the law to finally extend equal marriage to the whole of the UK.”
In his young days, Carden he supported his father Mike through the Liverpool Docker’s Strike.
He went on to study at the London School of Economics before working in Parliament and with Len McCluskey at Unite.
He became Walton MP in 2017 and was quickly promoted to Labour's front bench after impressing with his work as a constituency MP.
