McDonnell calls on Lord Sugar to 'disown' tweet depicting Corbyn and Hitler

John McDonnell has called on Alan Sugar to "delete and disown" a tweet depicting Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn sat in a car alongside Adolf Hitler.

Lord Sugar, a former Labour peer, shared the image with his 5.5 million Twitter followers as Mr Corbyn battled to get a handle on the anti-Semitism row that enveloped the party.

The businessman, who was born into a Jewish family, tweeted "many a true word spoken in jest Corbyn" alongside the image, which carried the caption "when you're pictured at Nuremberg and claim you thought you were going to a car rally".

"People have contacted me about Alan Sugar's tweet," Mr McDonnell wrote on Twitter.

"I just make this appeal to him. Please delete and disown it. We all desperately need to bring people together now. We can hold strong views about each other's politics but now is the time to learn from each other and unite people."

Two Labour MPs condemned Lord Sugar for the tweet and joined Mr McDonnell in calling for the post to be deleted.

Chris Williamson said the peer has brought his position into disrepute, saying the post "promotes hatred and that is irresponsible".

"I hope you will therefore swallow your pride, delete it and make a fulsome apology," he added.

Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group against Antisemitism John Mann said the tweet was libellous and Lord Sugar "might find it sensible to reword or remove it".

He tweeted: "The use of Hitler/ Nazi comparators is demeaning, unwarranted and dangerous. You damage the fight against anti Semitism with this @Lord_Sugar. Withdraw this and apologise please."

Lord Sugar said the post was "a joke" and the "angry brigade like to moan".

The Apprentice personality resigned from the Labour party in 2015 in protest at its stance on business.