Diane Abbott accused of ‘exploiting tragedy’ in now-deleted tweet over migrant deaths
Diane Abbott has been accused of exploiting the deaths of 41 migrants in a shipwreck off Italy in a now-deleted tweet concerning the tragedy.
The MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, who’s presently suspended from the parliamentary Labour Party, tweeted a hyperlink to an article concerning the deaths earlier at this time, and wrote: “These migrants have indeed f***** off. To the bottom of the sea.”
Ms Abbott despatched the tweet at 3.33pm, and it was deleted simply over an hour later.
Forty-one migrants were killed in the shipwreck off the island of Lampedusa in Italy after a big wave apparently flipped the vessel. There have been solely 4 survivors.
The tweet was deleted after simply over an hour
The former shadow dwelling secretary’s feedback got here off the again of Conservative deputy chairman Lee Anderson’s controversial comment to Express.co.uk on Monday night – that if migrants don’t need to be housed on a barge, they should “f*** off back to France”.
Ms Abbott had responded to Mr Anderson’s comment yesterday, calling them a “new low even for the Tories”, to which he replied that he had informed “illegal migrants to go back to France not genuine asylum seekers”.
However, at this time’s remark provoked an instantaneous backlash from X (previously known as Twitter) customers, and the Tory MP for Bassetlaw, Brendan Clarke-Smith, accused her and the Labour Party of “exploiting the tragedy” for political achieve.
Tory MP Brendan Clarke-Smith
He wrote: “And to think that Sir Keir Starmer campaigned for this person to be made our home secretary.
“We all know you can’t take Labour severely on immigration or nationwide safety, however what a disgrace additionally they search to use tragedies like this to push their warped agenda.”
Mr Clarke-Smith’s response was endorsed by the Conservative Party when approached for remark.
Who is Diane Abbott?
Ms Abbott presently sits as an unbiased MP after having had the whip suspended in April following remarks during which she advised Jewish folks don’t face racism, however as an alternative undergo prejudice just like “redheads”.
She wrote a letter to The Observer newspaper, in response to an article which had the headline: “Racism in Britain is not black and white. It’s far more complicated.”
The Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP stated she was responding to author Tomiwa Owolade’s claims that “Irish, Jewish and Traveller people all suffer from ‘racism'”.
The Labour Party known as her feedback “deeply offensive and wrong” and suspended her pending an investigation.
Ms Abbott and the Labour Party have been approached for remark.