Jeremy Corbyn adviser Andrew Fisher criticised after claiming call to back Class War Party was a joke

Fisher is facing calls for his expulsion after he appeared to back the Class War general election candidate over Labour in Croydon South

Corbyn's advisor appeared to lend his support to the Class War Party (Getty)

One of Jeremy Corbyn’s senior advisors has been criticised for claiming he was joking when he appeared to call on voters to back one of Labour’s rivals.

Andrew Fisher is facing calls for his expulsion after a tweet emerged in which he appeared to back the Class War general election candidate over Labour in Croydon South.

Mr Fisher, who was recently appointed to a key advisory role, has written to Labour’s general secretary Ian McNichol to apologise for the tweet, the LabourList website reported.

“I obviously do not and did not support Class War in any way, let alone in an election,” he said.

However, Labour MP Ian Austin accused Mr Fisher of showing “contempt” by claiming his words had been misinterpreted.

In the tweet, posted in August 2014, and since deleted – along with Mr Fisher’s Twitter account – he said: “if you live in Croydon South, vote with dignity, vote @campaignbeard” – the Twitter name of the Class War party’s candidate.

Fisher’s letter to McNicol says: “I accept that the tweet has been misinterpreted and has caused embarrassment and understandable upset among party members, which I regret.

“I wish to completely and unreservedly apologise for this tweet. I have now closed my social media accounts and assure you there will be no repetition of such activity in the future.”

Labour MP Gavin Shuker also criticised the apology. Referencing Mr Corbyn’s call for “the new politics” of decency he said: “The new politics. Where an apology is made for other people misinterpreting your own statement. Silly other people!”

The party’s Croydon South general election candidate, Emily Benn, has lodged a formal complaint about Mr Fisher’s comments. Under party rules any member who supports another political organisation can be automatically ejected from the party.

It emerged last week that Mr Fisher had in the past described Ed Miliband’s shadow cabinet as “the most abject collection absolute shite”, referred to Tony Blair and Alistair Campbell as “scumbags” and called former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw a “vile git”.

It has also now emerged that in article for the Left Economics Advisory Panel’s blog, he described former Labour frontbencher Chuka Umunna as “woefully unaware” of Britain’s history of nationalisations.