LEFTIE HATE TROLLS UNMASKED
Middle-class and spitting bile, three Corbyn backers who targeted Yvette
THE Left-wing activists behind a Twitter account that spewed vile abuse about Yvette Cooper can be unmasked today as supporters of Jeremy Corbyn.
Using the pseudonym ‘the Reel Politik’, they published a picture taken surreptitiously of the former Labour leadership contender on a train.
After users criticised the picture as creepy, the account menacingly boasted: ‘Face it, Yvette’s a bell**d and a busted flush, you’re a c*** and we’re in charge forever.’
Today the Daily Mail can reveal the identities of the three men behind the account, which has launched a series of attacks on Labour moderates, as Jack FrayneReid, Tom Foster and Yair Rice.
It has also emerged that Mr Corbyn’s former spokesman endorsed a previous offensive message posted by the group accusing an ex-party member of being a ‘centrist paedo’.
The attack on Miss Cooper came after she condemned online abuse of journalists and politicians. She said she was ‘sick to death of the vitriol poured out from all sides towards [BBC political editor] Laura Kuenssberg’.
She also complained about the ‘unacceptable’ and ‘utterly shameful’ abuse directed at Labour MP Luciana Berger, who has been tar- geted by hard-Left supporters threatening to de-select her.
The ‘Reel Politik’ run the Twitter account, as well as a recorded audio programme. Their ‘podcast’ page lists their three names as being behind the group.
The Twitter account has revelled in causing offence with posts calling for there to be ‘no forgiveness for the centrist scum’ and describing Labour MP Neil Coyle as a ‘Westminster-centric bell**d who needs to wind his neck in’. It also called for a statue to Margaret Thatcher to be built so the ‘comrades (can) vandalise it’ and joked that there will be ‘jelly and ice cream when Blair dies’.
Mr Frayne-Reid, who is a Labour Party member, last week boasted about how they help spread fake news. He told the Irritated Millennials blog: ‘Personally, I don’t give a s***. If it compounds the sense of chaos and instability around May’s premiership, then it’s complimentary to my political project.’
He said of the group’s Twitter account that ‘political s***-slinging is what keeps the punters coming’.
Mr Frayne-Reid said the trio, who met when students at De Montfort University in Leicester, were ‘firmly socialist, anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist, supportive of Jeremy Corbyn’s efforts to reform the Labour Party’.
Last night a former Labour Party member targeted by the group accused Mr Corbyn’s associates of giving the nod to their abuse.
A tweet posted by the account accusing Andrew Spooner of being a ‘ centrist paedo’ was ‘liked’ on Twitter by Matt Zarb-Cousin, who was Mr Corbyn’s spokesman until earlier this year.
Mr Spooner said: ‘ Matt ZarbCousin liked the tweet, which obviously conveys a message to the person tweeting of “good job, well done, keep going”.
‘So there is a link between the leader’s office and the encouragement of accounts that troll Labour MPs and former members.’
Both Mr Frayne-Reid and Mr Foster are Facebook friends with Mr Zarb-Cousin. Despite resigning from his post in March, Mr ZarbCousin has remained a staunch defender of the Labour leader.
Last night Mr Frayne-Reid apologised for the tweet about Miss Cooper. He said: ‘I didn’t it write myself, but I do take responsibility as co- editor of the account and would like to offer my apologies on behalf of the team.’
He said the picture of Miss Cooper had not been taken by his team, but republished from another Facebook page.
Mr Foster, 23, also denied posting
the tweet. speaking from his family home in Warwick, the cafe worker said: ‘i just contribute to the podcast every now and then. i try to stay out of the twitter side because there’s a lot of abuse and it’s not worth it. it’s a little unfair that people from the Left have been tarnished as bullies when a lot of it is going on across the political system usually from the centre ground and the right.’
Mr rice, 24, could not be contacted last night.
Mr Zarb-Cousin attempted to distance himself from the group. He said: ‘Likes are not endorsements. i bookmarked that tweet in reference to this particular person stalking my family’s social media accounts to look for photos of me as a child as he wanted to find out what primary school i went to.’
the group said they had previously apologised for and deleted the tweet accusing Mr spooner of being a paedophile.