A shamed senior Labour official has tried to blame deputy leader Tom Watson’s office for leaking to the JC a recording of a speech in which he ranted that Jewish people were "Trump fanatics".

In a new recording obtained by the JC, Pete Willsman makes the incendiary claim about Mr Watson as he addresses a meeting of the South Staffordshire Labour Party.

The JC exposed Mr Willsman's rant, which took place at a meeting of the party's National Executive Committee in July, when he said 68 UK rabbis were wrong to claim antisemitism was "widespread" in the party. 

He also said he was "not going to be lectured to" by Jewish people who he said were "Trump fanatics and all the rest of it... making up duff information without any evidence at all".

In the South Staffordshire recording, Mr Willsman speculates about who was responsible for secretly recording these comments.

“Someone recording it - I think I probably know who it was. I think it was probably Tom Watson’s office, probably… but never prove it," he told the recent meeting.

Listen to Pete Willsman's latest comments, from 1m 20s, below

The JC attempted to contact Mr Watson’s office on Monday but had received no response as this story went live.

Mr Willsman then calls allegations of widespread antisemitism within Labour: “Crazy – absolutely crazy.”

Mr Willsman – who was re-elected onto the NEC in September despite the outcry over his July rant – can also be heard suggesting “no-one has produced the evidence” of “widespread and severe” Jew-hate.

This claim was made in a letter to the Guardian signed by 68 rabbis from across the Jewish community.

They included Rabbi Harvey Belovski, vice-chair of the United Synagogue’s rabbinical council, and Rabbis Laura Janner-Klausner, Danny Rich and Jonathan Wittenberg, leaders of the Reform, Liberal and Masorti movements.

Mr Willsman says in the latest recording that he is “very angry” over the debate “about this antisemitism business”, saying: “The [NEC] meeting went on for about eight hours, something like that – nine hours.”

He says: “I read this letter … it was from 68 rabbis. I couldn’t care a less whether it was 68 rabbis, archbishops, you know, Jehovah Witnesses or what.

“What they said was that in the Labour Party antisemitism was ‘widespread and severe’. ‘Widespread and severe’ they said. Right, when I went to secondary high school I was taught you had to provide evidence when you make statements.

“Where is the evidence – that’s what I say to the NEC. What have we found so far?  There’s about 70 possible examples of antisemitism – I’m sure there’s more than that.  But we’ve found 70.

“The Labour Party’s got nearly 600,000 members - and Oxford to London is 70 kilometres. Do you know what 600,000 kilometres is – 14 times around the whole world.

“So what they are saying is Oxford and London is ‘widespread and severe’ compared to 14 times around the whole world. That is crazy, absolutely crazy. And I just said I want evidence – and I was ranting a bit which is what I always do. And of course someone recorded it.”

Boasting about his 37-year stint on Labour’s NEC, Mr Willsman then sings the praises of Mr Corbyn: "I’ve known him 41 years, we used to work together… and I can tell you Jeremy hasn’t changed one iota since I first met him.

“Jeremy has never told a lie. He can’t tell a lie.”

Earlier this month, Mr Willsman wrote a series of tweets about the latest NEC meeting, in which he called his critics "empty-headed".

“At the NEC I asked for evidence to support the accusation that anti sem in the Labour Party is ''widespread and severe'," he tweeted at 1.35am.

"To ask such a question is not anti sem [sic]. Will my empty-headed critics please show me where the evidence is to support this ridiculous assertion.”

Listen to his rant from July below

During his rant in July, Mr Willsman demanded other NEC members raised their hands if they had seen antisemitism within Labour.

When some did, he said he was "amazed", adding: "I’ve certainly never seen it.”

Among those in the room were Jon Lansman, the Jewish head of the pro-Corbyn Momentum campaign group, and Mr Corbyn, who reportedly did not react to Mr Willsman's rant.

In the outcry that followed the JC story, Mr Lansman dropped Mr Willsman from the Momentum slate of candidates though he was still re-elected.