A trade union boss has had his Labour party suspension lifted - leaving him free to vote for Jeremy Corbyn in the leadership contest.

Ronnie Draper, general secretary of the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union, was told he faced disciplinary action last month over unspecified tweets.

At the time, the veteran left-winer said the move "flies in the face of natural justice".

But on his Twitter page last night, Mr Draper announced that Labour officials had decided to lift his suspension.

Labour announced earlier this week that more than 3,000 Labour supporters have been barred from taking part int he leadership election for either being members of other parties, supporting rival poltiical groups or being abusive on social media.

Mr Draper told the International Business Times that Labour should lift the bans.

"We want the same treatment for those people that I got," he said.

"How many people do the Labour party employ, have they got enough people to listen to all of these hearings for these thousands of people who have been suspended? I would call for a blanket lifting of the ban. If you want to talk to people afterwards about whether they've done something wrong, then do it."

Ian Hodson, the BFAWU's national president, said: "Although we are pleased that common sense has prevailed in this instance, we are extremely disappointed that the decision to suspend Ronnie was taken in the first place and we are very concerned that thousands of rank and file members have been refused the right to take part in this unnecessary leadership election.

"We demand that all paid up Labour party members and supporters be reinstated and that this undemocratic and ideological purge is brought to an end.

"We call on the parliamentary Labour party and those who have wilfully and selfishly created chaos to end this civil war now and get on with the job of standing up for our communities, who desperately need a strong and united Labour party.

"The focus should be on stopping this Conservative government led by an unelected Prime Minister. The energy and passion should be directed at preventing Theresa May from her agenda of furthering inequality, not at vain, ego-driven, internal squabbles."

John McDonnell has accused Labour officials of carrying out a "rigged purge" of Jeremy Corbyn supporters - claims vehemently denied by the party's general secretary, Iain McNicol.