The Labour peer asked by the party’s general secretary to lead an audit of its procedures on the handling of antisemitism, has said he will only take on the role “subject to agreement”, despite Labour announcing that he had already agreed.

Speaking to The Sunday Times after Labour General Secretary Jennie Formby announced Lord Falconer would review cases of antisemitism in the Labour Party he said there was no chance of Labour forming a government while the problem persists

Under the plan announced by Labour, Lord Falconer was appointed as the party’s antisemitism surveillance commissioner, with full oversight of how Labour handles complaints.

Lord Falconer of Thoroton, who served as lord chancellor and justice secretary from 2003 to 2007, told The Sunday Times Labour “could not win a general election and nor would we deserve to,” if the general public believed that the party is antisemitic.

His comments come after he made clear that he would only take on the task of reviewing how complaints are dealt with, subject to agreement between him and the party.

In response to Ms Formby's announcement that he had been appointed, he tweeted: “Meetings with Labour Party next week to agree terms on my independent antisemitism role. Undertaking the role subject to agreement being reached.”

Lord Falconer said he only understood the full extent of the antisemitism crisis after he offered to help resolve it.

He said he did not believe that Mr Corbyn was “personally antisemitic” but said that the leadership has “failed to appreciate the scale of the problem.”

“We have totally lost the confidence of the Jewish community, and we have to get it back," he said.

“The most frightening thing is the profound and almost universal sense within the Jewish community that the Labour Party and Jeremy Corbyn are antisemitic.”

It comes after Ms Formby clashed with deputy leader Tom Watson over how to deal with antisemitism within the party.

Mr Watson intervened in the process after seven MPs quit the Labour Party last month, with one, Luciana Berger, calling the party "institutionally antisemitic".

He emailed all Labour MPs and peers to say that he would be "logging and monitoring" complaints of abuse and bullying and asked to be told about them by people complaining.

Ms Formby hit back and accused the deputy leader of "completely unacceptable" behaviour.

But Lord Falconer echoed the concerns of Mr Watson and other Labour MPs that “something has been profoundly lacking, over a very long period of time”, in Labour’s response to antisemitism.

He said: “Some cases appear to have taken years. It can’t take a year and half to fix the date for a hearing about whether a tweet is antisemitic or not.”

He also suggested that friends of Mr Corbyn who are accused of antisemitism should not receive special treatment.

“You need a system that is fast, consistent, where you are treated the same, whether you are a friend or not,” he said.

As a condition of his appointment he said he would demand “full access to all documents and all people” which would mean geting rid of non-disclosure agreements signed by former Labour staff who led previous investigations of antisemitism.

He said: “I’d have to speak to former employees without any fear that there wouldn’t be any NDA kickback.”

He also said “if there are stone cold cases where nothing has been done, they would need to be looked at again. There are hundreds of complaints that need to be dealt with.”

It comes as The Observer revealed senior figures in Labour rejected several recommendations to suspend party activists accused of antisemitism.

According to internal emails seen by The Observer, dating from March to May last year, an official acting on behalf of Ms Formby opposed recommendations from the party’s investigations team to suspend several members accused of antisemitic behaviour. 

According to The Observer one case of interference involved Andrew Murray, a senior adviser to Mr Corbyn.

The paper said it had seen emails where Mr Murray had argued softer action be taken against a member accused of defending an antisemitic mural.

The graphic, Freedom for Humanity, was painted on a property near Brick Lane in London’s East End by renowned international graffiti artist Kalen Ockerman, known as Mear One, in 2012.

It depicted a group of businessmen and bankers sitting around a Monopoly-style board and counting money. The mural was painted on the end wall of a private property, but was removed by local authorities after complaints from residents .

According to The Observer, Labour staff recommended that the member be suspended, however Mr Murray rejected the idea and called for an investigated without a suspension.

It is understood Mr Murray argued that the offender’s worst behaviour happened prior becoming a Labour member and that it was not antisemitic to disagree about the nature of the mural.

However when confronted by the paper, Mr Murray said that it had been a mistake not to agree to the suspension.

He said: “I was asked by party staff a year ago to give advice on 13 individual cases relating to alleged antisemitism, to assist in getting through the backlog.

“In 12 of those I agreed with the view expressed by staff. The decisions remained with those staff, as my response (phrased as a question) in the one other case, of which you are aware, underlines.”

Responding to the news, Mr Watson said it showed how the processes for dealing with “racism and abuse had failed”.

He tweeted: “If correct, this story suggests unacceptable political interference in dealing with antisemitism cases. I will be urgently consulting with colleagues before giving a fuller response.”

In another example a Labour member accused of posting a picture of an alien with the Star of David printed on it, covering the face of the Statue of Liberty, was warned about her behaviour instead of being suspended, as had been recommended.

In May, an official in Ms Formby's office suggested that the member be given a “reminder of conduct” due to the fact other posts by her showed she was anti-Israel, not anti-Jewish.

Another case from April showed Ms Formby’s official argued against a recommendation to suspend a member who claimed that a Labour Jewish group had links to the Freemasons.

The same official also objected to the suspension of a member who had used the term “zio”.

In each of the cases seen by The Observer, Labour staff dropped their recommendation and went with the advice suggested by the official or Mr Murray in the case of the mural. 

The Observer said it had also seen cases in which Ms Formby and Mr Murray agreed with the recommendation from Labour staff.

A Labour spokesperson told The Observer: “Since becoming general secretary, Jennie Formby has made procedures for dealing with complaints about antisemitism more robust.

“Staff in the investigations team have always led on investigations and recommendations on individual cases. Any suggestion that staff in the leaders’ office opposed recommendations on individual cases is categorically untrue.”

Jonathan Goldstein, chair of the Jewish Leadership Council, said when they met  Mr Corbyn and his team last April "we asked for his personal leadership on antisemitism and were explicitly told that he does not intervene in individual cases because it is all handled by the NEC."

Mr Goldstein said: "This latest revelation shows that cases were routinely referred to his office for their advice and direction. Whether it was a brazen untruth or an inept mishandling of a serious issue is almost irrelevant at this point.

"The conclusion is the same - the Labour leadership cannot be trusted on this issue and vindicates our request for a genuinely independent, mutually-agreed ombudsman to oversee Labour’s handling of antisemitism disciplinary cases.”