May acts to stamp out ‘horrific’ abuse of MPS

JEREMY CORBYN and his hard-left allies are “driving” the abuse of MPS, a Conservative MP has claimed, as Theresa May announced an official review into intimidation during the general election.

Andrew Percy criticised John Mcdonnell, the shadow chancellor, for claiming that Grenfell tower fire victims were “murdered” by political decisions and for referring to a Tory MP as a “bitch”. He also hit out at Mr Corbyn for addressing a demonstration where supporters carried posters depicting Mrs May’s head on a stake.

Mr Percy, who was called “Zionist scum” during the election campaign, told a debate in the Commons: “What is different about what was happening at this election, in which I was subjected to anti-semitic abuse, my staff were spat at, my boards and property attacked, is it has been politically motivated.

“The elephant in the room here is it is being motivated by the language of some of our political leaders when they accuse people of one political side of murder, when they dehumanise them in the way that is happening at the moment.”

The Prime Minister yesterday asked the Committee on Standards in Public Life to conduct a review into the “horrific and shocking” abuse suffered by MPS during the election campaign.

During a debate in Westminster Hall, Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, revealed that she has been subjected to racist and sexist abuse and been repeatedly called a “n-----” online.

She said she had received rape and death threats, and had also been described as an “ugly fat black bitch”.

She said: “We are talking about mindless abuse and in my case the mindless abuse has been characteristically racist and sexist.

“Just to outline, I’ve had death threats, I’ve had people tweeting that I should be hung if ‘they could find a tree big enough to take the fat bitch’s weight’.”

MPS from across the political spectrum said that Twitter had to do more to remove offensive material or risk being “complicit” in the abuse and intimidation of candidates. John Mann, a Labour MP, said that Jeremy Corbyn had to do more to tackle abuse carried out in his name by supporters.

Mrs May said: “I have been horrified by stories from colleagues about the scale and nature of the intimidation, bullying and harassment they suffered during the general election campaign.

“Robust debate is a vital part of our democracy, but there can be no place for the shocking threats and abuse we have seen in recent months.

“We must all work together to banish this behaviour, and I would urge MPS and candidates from all parties to report their experiences to this review so we get the fullest possible picture and can take the action required to stamp it out.”