DAVID LAMMY’s apology for nominating Jeremy Corbyn for the Labour leadership was a “sickening and gratuitous” attack on the former party leader, a Jewish campaigner said yesterday.

The shadow foreign secretary told the Limmud festival, a Jewish event, that he was sorry that he had nominated Mr Corbyn in 2015 and that he had “never believed” that the veteran leftwinger would win the leadership election.

In response, David Rosenberg of the Jewish Socialist Group tweeted: “[This is a] sickening and gratuitous attempt by David Lammy to give Corbyn a kicking by apologising for nominating him for the leadership ballot.

“Why apologise for helping someone bring 100s of 1,000s of new members to the [Labour Party], win back millions of voters lost by [former leader Tony Blair] and give them hope?

“I never was that impressed with you. You have sunk further in my estimation.”

Twitter users condemned Mr Lammy for the hypocrisy of his apology, given that he had frequently praised Mr Corbyn in the past.

Author Taj Ali asked: “Did David Lammy ever apologise for supporting the Iraq war and voting against an inquiry into the Iraq war?”