Fury at vile outburst from Corbynite MP
A LABOUR MP was forced to apologise yesterday after a video emerged of him saying, ‘Get on your knees, b**ch,’ during the party’s conference last month.
Clive Lewis, Labour’s former business spokesman, was filmed making the derogatory comment at an event held by the hard-Left Momentum group.
The video drew widespread criticism in Labour ranks, with former deputy party leader Harriet Harman tweeting: ‘Inexplicable. Inexcusable. Dismayed.’
Jess Phillips, chairman of the Women’s Parliamentary Labour Party, tweeted: ‘Just seen the Clive Lewis video. Obviously I am appalled, just listened to seven teenage girls speak up about gender inequality. Perhaps I’ll bring them to work on Monday.’
Former minister Yvette Cooper added: ‘Agree w[ith] Jess. No excuse for saying this, whatever context.’
Labour MP Stella Creasy also branded the remarks unacceptable. She tweeted: ‘It’s not OK. Even if meant as a joke, reinforces menace that men have the physical power to force compliance.’
A Momentum source said Mr Lewis, once an ally of Mr Corbyn, made the comments to a male participant on stage who was kneeling down to take the score during a game show segment at a conference event.
Last night Tory equalities minister Justine Greening sent a letter to Jeremy Corbyn calling for him to condemn the comments used by Mr Lewis.
She had earlier commented: ‘Seen Clive Lewis apology – problem is not just using this sort of language, but the unacceptable attitudes behind it which need to change.’
Following the outcry, former soldier Mr Lewis, the Norwich South MP, said: ‘I apologise unreservedly for the language I used. It was offensive and unacceptable.’
And a Labour spokesman condemned the language he had used. ‘It was completely unacceptable and falls far short of the standard we expect,’ he added.
At his party’s conference last month, Mr Lewis claimed that British governments have enforced power like the Nazis. He told young activists that political leaders had ‘systematically undermined’ the NHS, the BBC and public services.
And he likened this to the Nazi policy of seizing power by forcing all institutions to toe the same line, called ‘Gleichschaltung’.