Sara Khan, the head of the government’s anti-extremism adviser, has condemned “abhorrent tweets” by two Muslim advisers, according to the Sunday Times.

Professor Tahir Abbas, from Leiden University in Holland, wrote that the issue of antisemitism in the Labour Party had been used to target Jeremy Corbyn and that the “fear of antisemitism is greater than the reality”.

Sadek Hamid, and independent academic, retweeted an article which claimed that the antisemitism crisis in Labour had been manufactured by the “Israel lobby”, the paper reported.

Ms Khan said, “Having been made aware of these abhorrent tweets, I have already challenged the academics.

“They both stated they rejected antisemitism and agreed to my request of meeting a Jewish organisation with me.”

According to the Sunday Times, Mr Hamid said his retweet was not an endorsement, while Professor Abbas said he had deleted his “sloppily worded” tweet and that he was not an antisemite.

The paper said the men had been paid up to £10,000 by the commission for research.