Labour leadership contenders Rebecca Long-Bailey and Richard Burgon have been endorsed by Peter Willsman, a member of Labour’s ruling NEC suspended twice over antisemitism allegations.

Willsman’s far-left Campaign for Labour Party Democracy (CLPD) faction unanimously endorsed both candidates at a meeting on Saturday. Willsman says he is still a member of the group’s executive committee despite being suspended from Labour’s NEC for a second time in May.

Richard Burgon was quick to thank CLPD for supporting his deputy leadership campaign, saying “it means a lot”. Rebecca Long-Bailey has remained silent despite claiming to have been “quite vocal” on antisemitism.

CLPD is notoriously secretive about who sits alongside Willsman on its executive committee, but a 2018 listing names a number of NEC members, new MP Claudia Webbe and Christine Shawcroft who resigned as chair of Labour’s disputes panel after she defended a council candidate accused of Holocaust denial.