Diane Abbott has deleted a tweet about the deaths of 41 migrants in a shipwreck off Italy that referenced a senior Tory Lee Anderson’s “fuck off” attack on asylum seekers.
The independent MP tweeted “These migrants have indeed fucked off. To the bottom of the sea,” as she shared a BBC news story about the disaster in the Mediterranean.
The blunt language is a reference to Anderson, deputy Conservative party chairman, who this week said asylum seekers who do not want to stay in a giant migrant barge in the UK should “fuck off back to France”.
Abbott had responded to Anderson’s comments on Tuesday, calling them a “new low even for the Tories”. Anderson replied that he had told “illegal migrants to go back to France not genuine asylum seekers”.
Abbott was suspended by the Labour Party in April after she suggested Jewish people had never been “subject to racism”.
Tory MP Brendan Clarke-Smith tweeted: “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.”
The Associated Press reported 41 people are believed dead after a boat carrying migrants capsized in rough seas, the Italian Red Cross and rescue groups reported.
The survivors reported having left Sfax, Tunisia, on a metal boat with a total of 45 people on August 3. About six hours into their voyage, a huge wave overturned the vessel, according to local reports.