Labour politician Emma Dent Coad has come under fire after sharing a “shameful” and “disgraceful” tweet slamming Theresa May’s appearance.
The Kensington MP was accused of bullying over the post, which appeared to use a quote from Roald Dahl’s children’s book ‘The Twits’ to call the Prime Minister “ugly”.
Under a photo of May, the original message read: “If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face.
“And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until you can hardly look at it.”
Meanwhile, an image of a smiling Jeremy Corbyn was accompanied by the quote: “A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly.
“You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts it will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.”
“Love this...” Dent Coad added as she shared the image to her near-10,000 strong Twitter-following on Sunday night.
But the decision sparked an instant backlash, with some accusing the MP of acting like a social media “troll”.
“Trump levels of vitriol from Emma Dent Coad,” one Twitter user responded.
“Shameful that there are MPs who think it is acceptable to share this kind of hateful content.”
Another added: “That would be a ridiculous & embarrassing tweet to endorse even if you weren’t a Member of Parliament, Emma.”
Meanwhile, Tory MP Hugo Swire wrote: “Is this woman really suitable for public life?”
Responding to criticism on Sky News this morning, Dent Coad dismissed the post as a “joke”.
“It’s a joke, it’s Roald Dahl,” she said.
“The things I’ve had thrown at me over the last five months, you would not believe. I’ve had four rounds of death threats.
“It is ugly. You know, making a joke from a Roald Dahl thing I think is pretty minor compared to what some people get up to.”
The incident comes just weeks after it emerged that Dent Coad had made “unacceptable” comments about a Tory candidate in a 2011 blog post, calling London Assembly Member Shaun Bailey a “token ghetto boy” and a “scumbag”.
She also hit the headlines in September after reportedly making anti-Royal remarks at the Labour party conference, allegedly describing herself as the “Royal Family’s worst nightmare” and mocking Prince Harry’s military career.