BBC Laura’s bodyguard is just a ploy sneers MP

THE BBC gave its political editor a bodyguard as a ‘convenient’ ploy ‘to try and demonise the Left’, an ally of Jeremy Corbyn claimed yesterday.

Laura Kuenssberg has been assigned a security detail at Labour’s conference after a torrent of online threats.

But Labour home office spokesman Chris Williamson insisted the party’s supporters were far too ‘caring’ to ‘indulge in intimidating behaviour’.

The MP told TalkRadio: ‘Nobody should be faced with that situation [needing a bodyguard to do their job], but you know – it’s a convenient thing to say, to try and demonise people on the Left, that they are somehow indulging in intimidating behaviour.’

Asked if he was ‘ashamed’ that Miss Kuenssberg, 40, needed protection at the Labour conference, Mr Williamson added: ‘People join the Labour Party because they are caring individuals.

‘They want to stand up for the weak and underprivileged... They are not the sort of people that indulge in intimidation and violence.’

The BBC journalist, who will also have her bodyguard for next week’s Tory conference, has been booed by Brexiteers and was heckled by Ukip supporters at the launch of the party’s manifesto.

However, social media posts show it is Labour activists guilty of a sustained campaign of abuse against her. And yesterday’s revelation only prompted more online abuse.

Mr Corbyn’s supporters have targeted Miss Kuenssberg with vile taunts in retaliation for a news report that was broadcast a few days after the 2015 Paris terror attacks.

The item suggested Mr Corbyn opposed a shoot-to-kill policy – even when it comes to terrorists – but it emerged the footage shown was actually an answer to another question.

The BBC refused to comment on the security detail yesterday, but an insider said: ‘There is no political message here. This is about Laura’s welfare.’ Former Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman called for Mr Corbyn to condemn the behaviour. She said: ‘Why – just because she is a woman journalist – does she get that level of abuse?’

The security officer was identified as a former soldier who works as a media security and safety adviser for a firm used by the BBC.

The political editor was also assigned a security detail during the election, just as her predecessor Nick Robinson was for the Scottish referendum.