Employment Minister Esther McVey was warmly applauded at Wizo UK's annual dinner in central London on Monday after reaffirming the government's "strong friendship" with Israel and its commitment to fighting antisemitism and preserving memories of the Holocaust.

The Tory MP for Wirral West in Merseyside told the 250 guests: "The UK is a great friend to Israel and it will always remain a great friend to Israel because we believe in the same things."

She added: "There's a huge contingent of people who don't want to see a strong world, who would sooner destroy the foundations of what a free world is about.

"That's why it is vital that we stand together as friends to fight the splurge of antisemitism because there is no place for that in Britain. That is why this government has always made sure that it put millions of pounds into Jewish organisations."

Stressing the importance of Holocaust education, she described Auschwitz as a "scar on the face of the earth; a scar on humanity.

"If ever a race has fought against horrific things - intimidation, harassment - but stood strong together, faced those horrors, fought them and won, that is the Jewish people."

The former TV presenter, who intends to visit a Wizo employment centre in Israel, went on to pay tribute to the charity's founders as "visionary ladies".

She had been "astounded to read that so far over 8,000 [people] in over 70 communities in Israel have re-entered the workforce with the work Wizo is doing. That is unbelievable."

The dinner raised £300,000-plus for Wizo's vocational training programmes.