Labour peer suspended

Lord Ahmed's solicitors Wilford Smith have said there will be no comment issued on the Labour peer's suspension from the party until they have received a full unedited transcript of the comments the peer is alleged to have made.

The Times, which has published video footage which it claims shows Lord Ahmed making anti-Jewish remarks during a television interview in Pakistan, earlier said a transcript had been sent to Lord Ahmed's solicitor, at the peer's request.

Labour leader Ed Miliband has strongly condemned the anti-Jewish comments attributed to Lord Ahmed, reportedly made in a television interview in Pakistan last year, after his party confirmed it had suspended the peer.

Lord Ahmed, 55, was freed by the Court of Appeal after serving 16 days of his 12-week prison sentence in 2009 for dangerous driving.

The Pakistan-born property developer later supported an AA/Populus poll into mobile phone use among motorists, saying he had "learnt the hard way" about the problem.

The peer was suspended from the Labour Party for three months last year over reports he offered a $10 million (£6.7 million) "bounty" for the capture of Barack Obama and George Bush.

Lord Ahmed denied having made the comments, published in a Pakistani newspaper, and was reinstated after an investigation by Labour Lords Chief Whip Lord Bassam.

Lord Ahmed was sentenced in 2009 after pleading guilty to dangerous driving, having sent and received text messages in the build up to a fatal crash on the M1 near Sheffield on Christmas Day in 2007.

The final message was sent two minutes before his Jaguar struck the stationary car of 28-year-old Slovakian Martyn Gombar.

No causal link was made between the text messages and Mr Gombar's death, though.

The Times said it gained four separate Urdu-English translations to verify Lord Ahmed's comments during a television interview, which it said were thought to have been made in April last year during his visit to Pakistan. The newspaper claims the peer is seen saying:

Labour peer Lord Ahmed has been suspended by the party amid an investigation into claims that he blamed his jailing for dangerous driving on a Jewish conspiracy.

According to The Times, Lord Ahmed blamed his 12-week prison sentence on pressure placed on the courts by Jews "who own newspapers and TV channels".

The Muslim peer allegedly told an Urdu-language broadcast in Pakistan that the judge who jailed him was appointed to the High Court after helping a "Jewish colleague" of Tony Blair during an important case.

A Labour spokesman said: "The Labour Party deplores and does not tolerate any sort of anti-Semitism. Following reports in The Times today we are suspending Lord Ahmed pending an investigation."