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 Unitesupported claudia Webbe. local campaigner Janet Daby was chosen 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 adviser 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 disgust- ing, 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 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.
in a tweet, he thanked ‘everyone who is sending private or public messages of support’.
But left-wing activist Aaron Bastani, who supported Sakina Sheikh, tweeted: ‘i don’t think anyone publishing that bile belongs in a progressive party.’ 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.’
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.
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 in line with our rules and procedures.’
The allegations are expected to be looked at by the party’s national constitutional committee in July.
Meanwhile, Ken livingstone could rejoin labour in the future after quitting over controversial comments about Hitler.
The former london Mayor, who officially stepped down from the party on Monday, has vowed to return to campaign for labour, despite his views on Hitler and Zionism.
Yesterday, he told the evening Standard: ‘Now that i have left, i can turn up and support any labour candidate in the country. Some labour candidates don’t want me around but others will. i just want to see a labour government.’
A JUDGe has ruled against Scottish labour’s decision to bar dozens of supporters of an Asian candidate from voting in a selection contest.
Asim Khan took the party to court after claiming supporters were blocked from voting for him to stand as their candidate at the next general election.
But labour said they were not eligible to vote in the Glasgow South West selection contest as they had not been members of the party long enough.
At the court of Session yesterday lord clark said the party’s decision to change a cut-off date was ‘irrational’ and ‘wrong’.
The ruling means the current selection process may need to begin again from scratch.
‘They’ll behead her and dump her in a grave’