An election candidate has been labelled "shameful" by Countdown's Rachel Riley, after sharing a petition which wanted to stop the TV star speaking out against anti-Semitism.

Teaching assistant Laura Edie - who is standing for Labour in Newtown ward in Dartford - shared a link to the change.org petition "Rachel Riley - Stop Smearing UK Labour" last week, prompting the TV star to hit back.

The Countdown maths expert posted: "Lovely example of a teaching assistant @UKLabour @Dartford_Labour council candidate @ediebeady8 sharing a petition set up by an obsessive antisemitic racistknown for harassing those who speak out, aiming to have me silenced for standing up to it.

"@Change facilitating it. Shameful."

The petition against Rachel Riley, which now has 1,971 signatures, was launched after Rachel shared a petition against Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

It stated: "Jeremy Corbyn is an antisemite and is unfit to hold any public office. Over 50,000 signatures, and now it has mine. Please add yours and share."

She later added: "My support of this petition was ‘the final straw’ for the Corbyn protection society so they’ve started a petition for OfCom to silence me.

"So here’s another RT of it, do please sign and share. I don’t think they’ve got the message yet."

The "Rachel Riley - Stop Smearing UK Labour" - started by Ed Tully - states: "Rachel Riley is using her celebrity profile to smear The Labour Party & Jeremy Corbyn on social media. Rather than attempt fight antisemitism across the political spectrum, Rachel and her associates are engaging in regular partisan attacks on Labour & spreading a lot of misinformation.

"She is promoting various anonymous accounts on twitter, who are engaging in targeted harrassment of Labour members & supporters, even going as far as targeting independent left-wing media such as The Canary & Evolve UK.

"According to a parliamentary report in 2016, antisemitism is no more prevelant in Labour than in wider society.

"Antisemitism, or any type of racism is abhorrent. However, to weaponise antisemitism & use it as a political tool is absolutely despicable.

"The last straw for me was her asking people to sign a petition titled 'Jeremy Corbyn is an antisemite and is unfit to hold any public office'."

The Labour candidate has since taken down the tweet in which she shared the petition.

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