Labour activist’s vile ‘Isis sex slave’ jibe at female MP
LABOUR was plunged into a new row over ‘misogyny’ yesterday after a local party chief was suspended for suggesting Islamic State would behead Emily Thornberry rather than use her as a ‘sex slave’.
Action was taken against Ian McKenzie, chairman of the Lewisham East constituency, after historical messages about the shadow foreign secretary were unearthed.
One, from 2016, said she was ‘too old for Isis’. It read: ‘They won’t make a sex slave of her. They’ll behead her and dump her in a mass grave’.
Another, from the previous year, said: ‘Maybe she’d agree sex slavery to one man only, provided he didn’t sell her on or insist on gang rape.’
Labour last night confirmed Mr McKenzie had been suspended, pending an investigation.
But the emergence of the messages triggered suspicion it was part of a campaign to discredit Mr McKenzie over the candidate in next month’s by-election for the south-east London constituency.
He successfully fought off attempts for a hard-left activist to be installed from an all-woman shortlist – including Momentum-backed Sakina Sheikh and Unite-supported Claudia Webbe.
Local campaigner Janet Daby was chosen instead to fight the Labour safe seat on June 14 following Heidi Alexander’s resignation to work for London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
Mr McKenzie’s victory was short-lived after the offensive posts were published by Corbynista journalist Owen Jones on his own Twitter account.
In a statement, the 60-year-old former advisor to John Prescott yesterday said his tweets had been ‘taken out of context’.
He told how they were intended to ridicule Thornberry’s view that you could negotiate with Islamic State while shedding light on the terrorist organisation’s policy of separating women into two groups – young, for sex slavery, and old, for execution. ‘Isis are disgusting, murdering misogynists who, when they conquer an area of a country, enslave the women and kill the rest,’ Mr McKenzie said.
‘ I do not believe that Isis should kill Emily Thornberry, or kill anyone, and believe it is very clear I have never said I did.’
Mr McKenzie apologised for causing any offence, but added: ‘I’m truly sorry that I caused this to happen.’
But Left-wing activist Aaron Bastani, who supported Sakina Sheikh as candidate, tweeted: ‘I don’t think anyone publishing that bile belongs in a progressive party.’ And Mandu Reid, the Women’s Equality Party candidate, described Mr McKenzie’s tweets as ‘abhorrent’. Mr McKenzie has also stepped down as policy adviser to the newly- elected mayor of Newham, Rokhsana Fiaz.
She said: ‘I have accepted his decision as being the right one in this instance.’
The result of the by- election will be closely scrutinised after Jeremy Corbyn was criticised for Labour’s performance in local elections earlier this month. The furore over anti-Semitism and in-fighting have been blamed for the poor showing.
A Labour spokesman said: ‘The Labour Party takes complaints of abuse and discrimination extremely seriously. Any complaints are fully investigated and any appropriate disciplinary action taken.’
The row follows Labour MP Jared O’Mara’s suspension from the party in October, after sexist and homophobic remarks he made online emerged. The MP for Sheffield Hallam, who was 26 at the time, said he would like an orgy with members of pop group Girls Aloud and posted another message in which he claimed a Pop Idol victor ‘only won because she was fat’.
In August, Labour MP Jess Phillips accused Left-wing men of being the ‘absolute worst’ sexists. The Birmingham MP said although Left-wing men wanted to see equality for all women ‘ they don’t think of women on the same level’.
Mrs Thornberry was caught out by a tweet in 2014 when then party leader Ed Miliband sacked her from the Shadow Cabinet for uploading a photo of a house decked out in St George’s flags. She was accused of ‘snobbery’ after putting it alongside the caption: ‘Image from Rochester.’
÷ Ken Livingstone could rejoin Labour in the future after quitting the party over controversial comments about Hitler. The former London Mayor has vowed to return to campaign for Labour. He told the London Evening Standard: ‘Some Labour candidates don’t want me around but others will. I just want to see a Labour government.’
‘They’ll behead her and dump her in a grave’