He also said the press had spread "lie after lie after lie" about what he said that led to his suspension.
He also repeated the false claim that accusations of antisemitism were first made against Mr Corbyn when he was poised to become Labour leader, though his statements and associations that concerned the Jewish community were widely reported in the years before that.
Mr Livingstone said: "I mean it was outrageous because it was still – and this was Jeremy’s big problem – a Labour machine controlled by all the ghastly old Blairites, convinced Jeremy was going to lead us to a wipeout, doing everything possible to get rid of him, and that’s what has fuelled all this stuff about antisemitism.
"At that stage, 80 per cent of Labour MPs thought we’d be wiped out at the next election. They didn’t believe Jeremy and his policies would connect with people.
"And so that was the first time I started to hear accusations about antisemitism in the Labour party."
