Jeremy Corbyn has said he is taking the “first steps” in legal action against Nigel Farage over a “highly defamatory statement”.

The former Labour leader, who now sits as an Independent, said he could not let “disgusting and malicious lies go unchallenged”.

A statement from Mr Corbyn’s team alleged Mr Farage had “accused Jeremy Corbyn of subscribing to an antisemitic conspiracy theory”.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the MP said: “I have asked my lawyers to take the first steps in commencing legal proceedings against Nigel Farage, following a highly defamatory statement about me.

“We are a movement for peace — and we cannot stand by and let these disgusting and malicious lies go unchallenged.”

Tory MP Ben Bradley apologised in 2018 for posting a “wholly untrue false” statement about Mr Corbyn passing British secrets to a communist spy after he was threatened with legal action over the allegation.