Matt Hancock launched a scathing attack on Jeremy Corbyn and branded him as an “anti-Semitic leader" at a private hustings, an MP has claimed.
The Health Secretary and Tory leadership hopeful used the gathering of fellow Conservative MPs to warn of the possibility of a Labour government.
He also apparently called the party's leader an anti-Semite. According to an MP supportive of Mr Hancock, he told the meeting: "The Conservative Party has to get this right. If we don't, we could end up with the first anti-Semitic leader of a Western nation since the Second World War."
In response, shadow chancellor John McDonnell said the comments were "a disgrace".
Mr Hancock is not the first Tory leadership contender to highlight the issue.
Dominic Raab recently said that anti-Semitism in Labour was a "stain on our country".
Responding to Mr Hancock’s reported remarks, a Labour source said: "This baseless political attack rings hollow from a minister in a party that has supported Governments that actively promote anti-Semitic policies in Hungary and Poland and has spent the week wooing Trump - the man who refused to condemn neo-fascists in Charlottesville who chanted 'Jews will not replace us'.
"Numerous candidates in the Conservative leadership contest have been accused of racism, Islamophobia, homophobia and misogyny, one of whom may be the next prime minister."
Additional reporting by PA
