A CONTROVERSIAL Labour donor has been suspended by the party after he compared Jeremy Corbyn’s allies to Hitler’s stormtroopers.

The action against Michael Foster came as Corbyn today marks a year since his overwhelming victory in the Labour leadership election.

Foster launched a legal challenge in the High Court to stop the party from allowing Corbyn to automatically stand for re-election as leader when rebel MPs forced a fresh leadership contest this summer.

Labour said the multi-millionaire businessman’s suspension was for allegedly breaching election rules that ban “abuse of any kind”.

Foster wrote that Corbyn and his team had “no respect for others and worse, no respect for the rule of law” and claimed he had been smeared as a Jewish donor.

A newspaper article he wrote for the Tory-supporting Mail on Sunday was headlined: “'Why I despise Jeremy Corbyn and his Nazi stormtroopers', by Jewish Labour donor”.

The piece was published after the High Court ruled against Foster’s attempt to stop Labour from allowing Corbyn an automatic place on the ballot paper in the leadership contest due to him already being leader.

The ruling meant Corbyn did not have to obtain the nominations of 51 MPs and MEPs.

In the article, Foster wrote: “To me, respect for the rule of law is fundamental to a democracy. Once political parties believe they are above the law it ends with all opposition silenced, whether it is my grandparents in Dachau, or the Left in Erdogan’s Turkey rounded up and held uncharged in prison.

“The courts decided that the rules as they stand allowed it. This decision advantaged Corbyn and his Sturm Abteilung (stormtroopers)...”

Foster said the word “Nazi” was not included in his article and had been added to its headline by the Mail on Sunday. He claimed that he had been highlighting Corbyn’s “leadership cadre”.

The Sturm Abteilung, also known as the Brownshirts, were the paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party.

Labour’s decision to suspend Foster means he will not be able to take part in the leadership contest between Corbyn and challenger Owen Smith.

Foster was informed of his suspension in a letter from party general secretary Iain McNicol.

Reacting to the decision, Foster said: “The rule of law is being ignored because of intimidation by Corbyn, backed by Momentum, his Praetorian Guard.

“Criticise Corbyn by using the free press and within hours 11,000 people petition the National Executive Committee for your suspension.

"The coward NEC then takes away your democratic right both to free speech and to vote and you are excluded from the party. There is no due process.”

Foster is accused of breaching a party leadership rule that “all eligible members and supporters must conduct themselves in a calm and polite manner and be respectful to each other at all times”.

Foster could now faces an investigation by Labour’s ruling body and potential disciplinary action.

McNicol said in a letter to Foster: “It is important that these allegations are investigated and the NEC will be asked to authorise a full report to be drawn up with recommendations for disciplinary action if appropriate.”

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell, Corbyn’s most senior ally, had publicly called for the suspension.

He had claimed that supporters of Corbyn had been suspended in a “rigged purge” by the party machine but “no action has been taken against Michael Foster, the Labour party member who abused Jeremy Corbyn’s supporters and staff as Nazi stormtroopers”.

Foster, who has donated more than £400,000 to the party in the past two-and-a-half years, is a former showbusiness agent whose clients have included actor Sacha Baron Cohen and radio host Chris Evans.