Labour MP Chris Williamson's signature remained on a petition defending notorious antisemite Gilad Atzmon for several hours after he triggered huge outrage by tweeting about it.

The pro-Jeremy Corbyn MP signed the change.org tweeted the petition, opposing  at 10.30am on Friday, which led to him being branded a "Jew baiter" by the Jewish Labour Movement.

He deleted the tweet promoting the petition and later apologised, saying he had learned Mr Atzmon "is not confined to the jazz world" and had been alerted to Mr Atzmon's "strongly disassociate myself from Atzmon's antisemitic views".

But his apology did not say he had removed his name from the petition.

While a complete list of signatories is only available to those who started a petition, the JC saw the page was still promoting Mr Williamson's signature more than three hours after he had tweeted to promote it.

It is unclear whether he has now removed his signature, as all signatories are offered the chance to do in an automated email Change.org sends them when they sign something.

Mr Williamson did not respond to request for comment.

The petition called on Islington Council to overturn its ban on Mr Atzmon performing with his band The Blockheads at a council venue.

Mr Atzmon has blamed the Grenfell fire ton "Jerusalemites” and has also been accused of posting antisemitic tweets, including one which appeared to endorse an “Anne Frank Halloween costume”, and another in which he said “I despise the Jew in me and detest the Jew in you”.