Diane Abbott sparks Twitter outrage with ‘sick’ dead migrant tweet | Politics | News
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A Tory MP has accused Diane Abbott of pushing a “warped agenda” after her response to a BBC news story about 41 migrants dying in a shipwreck off the coast of Italy.
Ms Abbott tweeted: “These migrants have indeed f***ed off. To the bottom of the sea”.
The comments have immediately sparked a backlash on social media, with one commentator and journalist saying her language is “totally unacceptable for a sitting parliamentarian”.
“It’s become increasingly clear that Abbott is a liability who cannot be trusted with her own political communications.”
Ms Abbott was making a reference to Tory vice chair Lee Anderson’s comments about refugees who don’t want to board the Bibby Stockholm barge.
Mr Anderson told Express.co.uk: “If they don’t like barges then they should f*** off back to France”.
Yesterday, Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said Mr Anderson was speaking for the Government when he made the comments.
Responding to Ms Abbott’s now-deleted tweet, other users branded her “sick” and “beyond parody”.
Another Twitter user said “shame on you Diane Abbott”.
Tory MP Brendan Clarke-Smith said: “And to think that Sir Keir Starmer campaigned for this person to be made our Home Secretary”.
“We all know that you can’t take Labour seriously on immigration or national security, but what a shame they also seek to exploit tragedies like this to push their warped agenda.”
Responding to the tweet, which was deleted after just a few minutes, a Tory source told the Express that Keir Starmer should “slung this clown out of the Labour Party for good”.
“This is sadly what we’ve come to expect of Diane Abbott who Keir Starmer campaigned to make Home Secretary.
“When she’s not singing the praises of Chairman Mao on the BBC or being photographed wearing two left shoes she’s typing out stupid and offensive Tweets that trivialise serious issues.
“It’s high time Sir Keir slung this clown out of the Labour Party for good.”
The senior MP was suspended by the Labour Party in April this year after writing a letter to the Observer newspaper claiming that Irish people, Jews and Travellers do not experience the same racism as black people.
She withdrew her remarks, claiming the letter had been sent to the paper despite being in an initial draft stage.
Labour confirmed the whip had been suspended from her pending an investigation, meaning she now sits as an independent MP alongside Jeremy Corbyn.
Ms Abbott’s office was approached for comment.