THE Jewish Chronicle has been forced to correct an article which wrongly claimed that a Labour Party member was expelled for making “sickening comments about Jews.”

The newspaper made the false accusations about Gerald Downing in an article published in March.

Mr Downing complained to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) that the newspaper breached Clause 1 of the Editors’ Code of Practice, which advises journalists to be accurate. 

Ipso upheld the complaint, finding that the report was “significantly inaccurate” and requiring the Jewish Chronicle to publish its decision as a remedy to the breach.

The article had also reported that Mr Downing’s “sickening comments” were discussed in Parliament. 

Mr Downing said that the article was inaccurate; he had been expelled from Labour for publicly supporting another political party and not for making any comments about Jews.

He provided official Labour Party letters to Ipso to support his position.

He added that no comment he had made about Jewish people had been discussed in the House of Commons.