BBC Laura hounded over Boris heckler
Labour MPs pile in after she identified activist
The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg has endured a barrage of abuse for pointing out that a father who confronted Boris Johnson in a hospital is a Labour activist.
The journalist was branded ‘vile’ in an online campaign calling for her to be sacked.
Yesterday Labour MPs waded into the row, calling her reporting ‘biased’ and ‘shocking’.
Political editor Miss Kuenssberg was targeted for a tweet about Omar salem, who took the Prime Minister to task about staff shortages during a visit to Whipps Cross University hospital in north-east London.
she told her 1.1million Twitter followers that Mr salem, whose seven-day-old daughter is being treated at the hospital, is a Labour activist, before linking to one of his posts about the incident. It prompted fury from thousands of social media users, with suggestions that the journalist’s action constituted ‘harassment’ of Mr salem. ‘#sackLauraKuenssberg’ became one of the most-used phrases on Twitter on Wednesday.
Critics, including Jeremy Corbyn supporters, called her a ‘disgrace’ and said she was peddling to ‘sick propaganda’.
Mr salem himself defended her, saying she was ‘doing her job without fear or favour, which is a vital part of democracy’.
But shadow fire minister Karen Lee wrote: ‘@bbclaurak and @ BBCPolitics This is dreadfully biased reporting. aren’t labour activists allowed to be upset at the state the Tory govt have caused our Nhs to be in?’ shadow foreign minister Liz McInnes wrote: ‘Well, there’s a thing. Man obviously distressed by the state of #Nhs care after 9 years of #Tory/#LibDem misrule has his views and obvious anguish dismissed by @bbclaurak because he’s (whisper it) a “Labour activist” and therefore not entitled to a point of view. shocking.’
John edwards, a Labour councillor f or 41 years, posted: ‘Dear @bbclaurak Your behaviour on social media today has been appalling. Your personal politics are interfering with our right to expect i mpartiality from employees of @BBCNews whose inflated salaries we pay. Get out. You’re a disgrace. #sacklaurakuenssberg.’
ed Poole, who is running to be the next Labour candidate in enfield North, wrote: ‘The BBC is whipping up an angry mob because the man who rightly berated the Prime Minister about the state of the Nhs when his child almost died happens to be a Labour activist. Like electioneering was on his mind! sick propaganda from @bbclaurak.’
Yesterday Labour backed the MPs who joined the row. a party source said: ‘None of the MPs’ responses call for Laura Kuenssberg to be sacked, they express support for people to speak out about the state of our Nhs under the Tories, whether they are members of a political party or not. No one should face abuse online or in person for either doing that or for doing their job.’ scot Miss Kuenssberg has been subjected to campaigns to get her sacked in the past. In 2017, she was accompanied by her own security at Labour’s conference after being bombarded with online abuse by Corbynites.
Gary Lineker posted yesterday: ‘absolutely ludicrous pileon attempting to oust @bbclaurak f rom the j ob she does brilliantly. We’ve lost the plot.’
The BBC said: ‘Laura is a journalist who uses social media as part of her job. any suggestions there was malicious i ntent behind her tweets are absurd.’
‘You’re a disgrace’