A Labour spokesperson said Lady Hayter’s remarks – made at a meeting of centre-left group Labour First – were “deeply offensive” and “grossly insensitive to Jewish staff in particular”.
They added: “To compare the Labour leader and Labour Party staff working to elect a Labour government to the Nazi regime is truly contemptible.”
Others condemned Lady Hayter’s sacking, including Labour’s Ilford North MP, Wes Streeting, who told the Guardian that it was a “gross over-reaction to a comment that was actually about Jeremy Corbyn’s bunker mentality”.
He added: “This sacking only reinforces her point. The speed of this sacking shows that Labour’s leader is quick to act to protect his feelings, but slow to act against racists. The double standards are extraordinary.
“Dianne Hayter remains the elected deputy leader of the Labour group in the House of Lords, regardless of Jeremy Corbyn’s purge.”
Luke Akehurst, the secretary of Labour First, defended Lady Hayter, adding: “It isn’t a bunker, it is the last days of Saigon.
“It’s like they are trying to get on the helicopters trying to kick off the incumbents in these parliamentary seats, because they know their days of control are numbered.”
