The Board of Deputies has apologised for suggesting those criticising its invitation to Angela Rayner were "sticking out your tongue, crossing your arms and stamping your feet".

The Board invited Ms Rayner, shadow education secretary and a major ally of Jeremy Corbyn, to speak at its Chanukah celebration at the House of Lords, prompting a furious response from senior figures within the community.

In a letter to the JC, barrister Jeremy Brier and QC David Wolfson, Etgar founder Jo Rosenfelder and Jewish Child's Day chair Charles Spungin said that, while "engagement and debate are vital", "honouring" Ms Rayner in this way was "sycophantic and unnecessary".

Defending the invitiation on Twitter on Friday, the Board wrote: "Clearly, shadow education secretary is important for Jewish schools.

"[You] can't fight  culture of racism by sticking out your tongue, crossing your arms  and stamping your feet."

When journalist Dan Hodges questioned whether this was "really a serious response to these concerns", the Board replied: "Sorry folks.

"Obviously didn’t mean to upset anyone. It’s all very raw (and) Twitter (is) obviously not the best medium for a detailed response."

The original tweet was later deleted.

The line is actually a repeat of the words of Board President Marie van der Zyl, who wrote in the JC last week defending the invitation to Ms Rayner.

She wrote: "It is true that there are some in the community seem to have adopted the ‘grand strategy’ of calling Jeremy Corbyn names in the Jewish media, refusing to speak to him or anyone around him and ... well, that’s it, actually. 

"They think you can fight a culture of racism by sticking out your tongue, crossing your arms and stamping your feet. That may sound cathartic, but it is unlikely to be an effective way of winning the argument."