A peer who blamed a jail term he received for driving dangerously on a Jewish conspiracy says he has "completely and unreservedly" apologised for his comments.
Lord Nazir Ahmed who was suspended from the Labour Party over the allegations is said to have been caught on camera blaming his prison sentence on pressure placed on the courts by Jews "who own newspapers and TV channels".
He was jailed for 12 weeks in 2007 for sending text messages shortly before his car was involved in a fatal crash.
The peer told the Huffington Post he could not believe the video when he saw it and said the statement was the product of a "twisted mind".
Lord Ahmed said that he did not "really have any explanation or excuse" for why he made the comments and said he was "embarrassed".
"I only believe in facts and to be honest I should have stuck with the facts rather than with conspiracy theories," he said.
According to the website he also apologised for embarrassing Labour leader Ed Miliband. "He's of the Jewish faith and I'm sorry that I embarrassed him – or anybody else in the Labour Party.
"I'm particularly sorry to all my colleagues in the House of Lords and in the House of Commons because one thing many of them know is that I'm not anti-Semitic or a conspiracy theorist."
