A Conservative local council candidate has reportedly been forced to resign from the party following a series of Twitter posts in which the term “Jewish” was used an insult.

Tweets posted from the account of Obaid Khan in 2013 and 2014 referred to “foreign Jewish agents”  paid by the “Jewish lobby”.

The messages were posted during a heated Twitter exchange about Pakistani politics. They also expressed the hope that former Pakistani Presidents Asif Ali Zardari and Narwaz Sharif would be hanged.

According to the Birmingham Mail, which uncovered the posts, Mr Khan’s Twitter profile has been deleted and his campaign material removed from the Birmingham Conservatives’ websites.

“He is no longer a member of the party”, a Conservative spokesman told the newspaper. “Views like that have no place in the party or our society.”

In a statement, Sir Eric Pickles MP, chairman of Conservative Friends of Israel, welcomed the party's swift response.

He said Mr Khan's “reported views are incompatible with membership of the Conservative Party. Pleased that he is no longer a member, and that the party moved quickly to exclude him.

"There are clear lessons to other political parties that a zero tolerance to antisemitism coupled with prompt action is the most effective way of dealing with this issue.”