A popular pro-Corbyn blog has been accused of the “deeply sinister bullying” of a female Labour MP after it criticised her for attending a gig with a Conservative counterpart.
Stella Creasy watched indie band Shed Seven at Brixton Academy earlier this month alongside Tory MP, Therese Coffey, and former-Labour MP turned music rep, Michael Dugher, who tweeted his excitement at the prospect.
Evidently, it was a rather good show.
But 10 days later blog site Skwawkbox picked up on the original tweet and messaged Creasy for comment, suggesting her apparent friendship with Coffey “raises questions about cosiness between Labour MPs and their Tory counterparts”.
Skwawkbox, run by an office worker from Merseyside called Steve, insisted the issue was in the public interest.
Skwawkbox is one of a number of left-wing pro-Labour websites that sprung up in support of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership bid, some of which have been writing misleading stories in an attempt to smear other politicians and members of the media.
The site later ran a story on the exchange of messages, although the vast majority of people thought it was a complete non-issue.
Others suggested it was indicative of something far more sinister on the left-wing of the Labour Party and its supporters.
Dugher is the Chief Executive of lobbying group UK Music. Previously he was Shadow Secretary of State for Transport under Ed Miliband and campaign manager for Andy Burnham when he fought Corbyn for the Labour leadership in 2015.
He became Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in 2015 but was sacked during Corbyn’s first reshuffle as leader.
He didn’t mince his words in response to the blog.
Sentiments echoed by others.
But a small group of vocal Labour supporters and one Labour MP pounced on the story as evidence of something else.
Which Creasy took in her stride.
Skwawkbox was contacted for comment but instead replied with a link to another blog post in which it still continues to insist Creasy has not addressed the issue of the “appropriateness of a Labour MP’s apparent cosiness with an MP of the party under whose policies millions are suffering”.