HARD-LEFT HATE MOBS TARGET MPs
Hundreds in march on Labour moderate’s home Torrent of online abuse for pro-war MPs
PRO-WAR Labour MPs were sent pictures of dead children and subjected to hate-filled attacks online yesterday, as part of a campaign of intimidation by Left-wing activists who support Jeremy Corbyn’s anti-war stance.
Prominent moderate Stella Creasy was singled out for abuse, with hundreds marching on her home and constituency office.
Last night the actions of the ‘intolerant minority’ were criticised by MPs.
Ex-leader Ed Miliband, who came out against air strikes, said it was wrong to ‘demonise’ supporters of military action – and backbencher John Woodcock vowed to stop his party from becoming a ‘cheerleader for angry, intolerant pacifism’.
Miss Creasy, the runner-up in the contest to be Labour’s deputy leader this year, was sent pictures of dead and maimed Syrian children in the run-up to yesterday’s vote.
She was forced to leave the
‘Angry, intolerant pacifism’
Commons debate after critics continued to ‘hassle’ her staff by phone.
A Labour councillor in Walthamstow, east London, warned Miss Creasy she would be deselected if she voted for military action, but the MP said she would not be ‘bullied’.
Last night it was reported that one of the activists who organised the march on Stella Creasy’s constituency office sits on the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament’s council alongside Jeremy Corbyn.
Sophie Bolt is a former vicechairman of the hard left group and has known Mr Corbyn for over a decade, The Daily Telegraph said.
The 47-year-old, who is a constituent of Miss Creasy, insisted that the gathering was ‘peaceful’ and had not targeted the MP’s home address.
Miss Creasy’s fellow Labour MP Melanie Onn was also the subject of vitriol, being sent a picture of a weeping woman surrounded by dead ‘Remember children, this with when the you message: vote.’ Pro-war MP Mr Woodcock confronted Mr Corbyn’s ally Clive Lewis, after Mr Lewis said supporters of air strikes would have to take the blame if Islamic State terrorists carried out reprisals in Britain. Mr Lewis claimed he was taken out of context. But when Mr Woodcock pointed out he had a transcript of his remarks, he replied: ‘You want to start this, so we will finish it – f*** you.’ Mr Lewis, who was last night facing the prospect of an internal inquiry over the affair, said he had been ‘harangued’ by his colleague, but said he regretted swearing at him. Labour ex-minister Diana Johnson and fellow Labour MP Carolyn Harris received Facebook messages warning of deselection if they voted for air strikes. The anonymous message added: ‘That is the least the Labour Party members will do to try to wash the blood from their hands of the innocent civilians which the bombs will surely kill.’
War veteran Dan Jarvis was also attacked after he spoke in favour of military action, with one pro-Corbyn internet troll saying: ‘Warmonger Mr Jarvis will obviously not be volunteering to go out there and fight himself – yellow!’ Former home secretary Alan Johnson was called a ‘class traitor’ after he took a swipe at Mr Corbyn’s pledge for a ‘kinder, caring politics’.
Mr Johnson, who backed the air strikes, told MPs: ‘I wish I had the self-righteous certainty of the finger-jabbing representatives of our new and kinder politics who will no doubt soon be contacting those of us who support this motion.’
Ed Miliband last night condemned the attacks and suggested the worst offenders should be expelled from the party. He said: ‘Attempts to demonise and target MPs over Syria … are intolerable and have no place in the Labour Party.’
Labour MP John Mann, another opponent of military action, said: ‘The level of abuse over the last four months is on a totally different scale from anything ever before.
‘It is directly linked to people purporting to support Jeremy. He should remove this intolerant minority … None of them have been disciplined yet, never mind expelled and he should start doing so.’
In the Commons, Mr Mann tackled Mr Corbyn directly over the smear campaigns, saying many MPs had faced ‘appalling’ abuse.
He told his leader: ‘There is no place in the Labour Party for anyone abusing those people who choose to vote with the Government.’
Mr Corbyn responded: ‘Abuse has no part in responsible dialogue.’
But Mr Woodcock, the Parliamentary Labour Party’s defence spokesman, pointed the finger directly at the leadership for encouraging intimidation, saying: ‘Some of the people on the front bench now need to think very carefully about how they have conducted themselves.’
Mr Corbyn’s spokesman sparked controversy by suggesting France and Russia may have brought recent terrorist atrocities on themselves by bombing IS in Syria.
He told reporters: ‘We’ve seen what’s happened in France, we’ve seen what’s happened to the Russians directly after their involvement in the Syrian conflict.’
‘Wash the blood from their hands’