FORMER Dunfermline and West Fife MP Thomas Docherty has slammed suspended Fife councillor Mary Lockhart over comments made in a row over anti-Semitism.

The Labour Party suspended Ms Lockhart last week after she suggested that Jewish newspapers criticising party leader Jeremy Corbyn’s position on anti-Semitism could be doing so on behalf of Mossad, Israel’s secret service.

Mr Docherty lodged an official complaint with Scottish Labour’s general secretary in the wake of the Lochgelly, Cardenden and Benarty councillor’s Facebook post, which has now been deleted.

Speaking to the Press, the former MP stated his dismay at reading her post.

He said: “I think the Labour Party have taken the right decision to suspend her.

“I was absolutely shocked to see it. I was shocked that it had appeared as it’s such an appalling statement to have made. One of the theories that she puts forward is that British Jews are collectively working with Mossad to bring down the Labour Party.

“That is an anti-Semitic trope.

“What she’s done and has not apologised for or recognised as a problem, is that she’s suggested that there’s a Jewish conspiracy and that British Jews are agents of the Israeli government.

“Fundamentally, this is about suggesting that British Jews are somehow acting in a coordinated manner with a foreign government. That’s what this boils down to and she won’t apologise for it.”

The UK’S three leading Jewish newspapers last week published a joint front page warning that a Jeremy Corbyn-led government would pose an “existential threat to Jewish life in this country”.

Ms Lockhart spoke out about the articles, stating: “If it is a Mossad assisted campaign to prevent the election of a Labour Government pledged to recognise Palestine as a state, it is unacceptable interference in the democracy of Britain.”

She posted on social media that she will not be commenting on her post until further judgement is made, adding she remains a supporter of the Labour Party and its current leadership.