Labour frontbencher Angela Rayner has revealed she received rape and murder threats on social media from someone “claiming to be a Jeremy [Corbyn] supporter”.
In an impassioned post on Facebook in which she disclosed she had panic buttons fitted in her home, the shadow education secretary said a man had been arrested over the incident, which took place “only a couple of weeks ago”.
Rayner’s comments came on the back of a barrage of “nasty tweets and social media comments” from critics after she praised former Labour prime minister Tony Blair for an interview he gave on Sunday.
The Ashton-under-Lyne said she received calls to resign over her comments, while others branded her a “traitor”.
“I’m not involved in any attempts to undermine our democratically elected leader, I don’t have any ambition to take over the party or be part of any faction and I’m not supporting Tony Blair’s war in Iraq or his attacks on Labour,” Rayner wrote in a post on Monday evening.
“Anyone who thinks attacking our representatives, activists or supporters in this way will get us a socialist government are sadly mistaken,” she added.
Calling on Labour supporters to “stop the personal attacks and be kinder to each other”, Rayner continued: “My colleague was assassinated doing her job that I do week in week out.”
Batley and Spen MP Jo Cox was murdered in 2016 when she was shot and stabbed multiple times by local man Thomas Mair while on the way to a routine surgery in her constituency.
Meanwhile, a man was arrested on Sunday after Jeremy Corbyn was struck with an egg while visiting a mosque in north London.
On Tuesday morning, Tory Brexiteer Nadine Dorries shared a photo of one of the panic buttons she had installed in her home.
Using the hashtag “#Alwayslookingovermyshoulder”, the Mid Bedfordshire MP wrote on Twitter: “Panic buttons at the side of my bed and in other rooms in the house.
“Being an MP today is very different to what it was when I began, 14 years ago.”
Serious threats are now a “constant backdrop to daily life”, she added.