The former editor of the Independent has said Jeremy Corbyn should be "removed from public life immediately", saying the Labour leader's comments about Zionists were “beyond doubt antisemitic".

Simon Kelner, who was chief editor of the paper from 1998 to 2008 and again from 2010 to 2011, wrote a column for the i paper on Wednesday, in which he said that “up to now, I have had something of an equivocal view on this row. I have not believed that Mr Corbyn has a prima facie case to answer on antisemitism.

"But what he said – albeit five years ago – is beyond doubt antisemitic.”

Mr Kelner, who describes himself as a "liberal-minded British Jew" and not a Zionist, continued: “Anyone who had said such a thing about British Asians or our Caribbean community should be, and I hope would be, removed from public life immediately. I can’t see how or why Jeremy Corbyn should survive this.”

Last week, a video of Mr Corbyn speaking at a 2013 event was published, in which the then-backbencher said a group of British “Zionists” had "two problems. One is that they don’t want to study history, and secondly, having lived in this country for a very long time, probably all their lives, don’t understand English irony.”

In his column, Mr Kelner wrote that he, “as a Liberal-minded British Jew (rather than a Zionist) am offended by Mr Corbyn’s pronouncements.

"It is that phrase 'having lived in this country for a very long time' that I find particularly offensive. It can be used to define Jewish people as something other than British, as people not of this culture.

 “Whether this demonstrates that Jeremy Corbyn is antisemitic or not is moot, but the sentiment is certainly antisemitic if we believe that Mr Corbyn was employing euphemistic language when referring to ‘Zionists’.

“A Labour spokesman said that Mr Corbyn was describing a ‘particular group of pro-Israel activists as Zionists, in the accurate political sense, not as a synonym or code for Jewish people.’ It is hard to prove this one way or the other, but I believe this to be sophistry.”

The journalist also said that he “completely agreed” with Rabbi Lord Sacks’s comments about Mr Corbyn’s speech.

In an interview with the New Statesman published this week, the Emeritus Chief Rabbi said Mr Corbyn  “defiles our politics and demeans the country we love” and that his statements were the most offensive since Enoch Powell’s “Rivers of Blood” speech in 1968.