Kelvin MacKenzie, The Sun's former editor, has joked that his ideal fake news headline would be "Jeremy Corbyn knifed to death by asylum seeker" if he was still in charge of the publication.

The 70-year-old, currently suspended as a columnist from the newspaper for comparing footballer Ross Barkley to a gorilla, has found himself in trouble again after making the comments to the New York Times (NYT).

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The American newspaper was looking at how British tabloids influenced politics and Brexit, but possibly discovered more than it was hoping to find out when it spoke to MacKenzie.

Aside from his comments about Corbyn, MacKenzie even said that some of the headlines he wrote while editor between 1981 and 1994 were "sometimes untrue".

"Wow," was all that NYT journalist Katrin Bennhold had to say after hearing the shocking admission, in her piece that was published on Tuesday (2 May).

The morning after she spoke with MacKenzie, he reportedly texted her: "Hi Katrin, Can you change that perfect headline from 'Jeremy Corbyn knifed to death by asylum seeker' to 'Jeremy Corbyn Defrauded by Asylum Seeker.' In the light of Jo Cox murder mine is in tol [sic] poor taste."

Cox, a Labour MP who sought to support asylum seekers and was in favour of remaining in the EU, was shot and stabbed to death by neo-Nazi Thomas Mair in the weeks running up to the Brexit referendum. Mair was jailed for life for the murder last November.

Following MacKenzie's comments, a Labour source told the Mirror: "Kelvin MacKenzie's disgusting language incites violence and hatred and makes him unfit to work for any media outlet.

"This sort of disgusting language should not be tolerated by anyone in the media, politics or any walk of life.

"We saw last year how over heated language in politics led to the murder of Jo Cox.

"Kelvin Mackenzie could find himself reported to the police for inciting hatred and violence against the leader of the opposition."

Jeremy Corbyn