A senior Labour figure has dismissed the anti-semitism row involving Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield as a storm in a teacup.

Bill Esterson, the shadow international trade minister, urged the local party to draw a line under the episode which reignited the controversy over the party's position on anti-semitism.

Speaking on KMTV’s Paul on Politics programme, he rejected the claim that Jeremy Corbyn had failed to support the MP after she faced a motion of censure over her support for those critical of Labour’s stance on anti-semitism.

Although the motion by a group of local members was withdrawn following a meeting earlier this week, the MP subsequently said she had considered standing down over the controversy.

Party aides have since let it be known the MP would not be resigning and had made the remarks in an interview in the heat of the moment

Mr Esterson, who began his political career as a Medway councillor, said: “I hope that the Canterbury Labour Party will now get behind her and support her She has been like a breath of fresh air in Parliament and has been doing a great job on behalf of her constituents.”

“I know Jeremy Corbyn was in Whitstable over the summer and was told what a great job she was doing. This is a storm in a teacup and Rosie’s doing a good job.”

Asked why the Labour leader had not given a statement of support for the MP when pressed to do so by several backbenchers at a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party, he said: “She has his full support and he made clear there and has done separately that she is doing a good job.”

But he said the party should not be distracted by internal arguments.

“Our target should be to take on this appalling right wing government, their disastrous Brexit and the damage they are doing to the economy of the country.”