Marc Wadsworth A controversial activist

Through his work as an anti-racism activist, Marc Wadsworth has gained a considerable following inside Labour.

However, his views have often courted controversy.

In 2012, when Diane Abbott faced calls to resign from the Labour front bench for claiming that “white people love to play divide and rule”, Mr Wadsworth defended the assertion.

“Can a black person be racist?” he said. “That is a social scientific view – that it’s about power. Black people don’t have the same power in society as white people.” In recent years, he is believed to have served as a committee member of Momentum Black Connexions, believed to be a subsection of the main Momentum organisation.

Following his clash with Ms Smeeth in 2016, he refused to apologise and said “her storming off was an act of politically motivated histrionics”.

Mr Wadsworth claims he did not realise Ms Smeeth was Jewish.