A Jewish Labour MP who criticised Jeremy Corbyn has revealed that she received more than 20,000 pieces of abuse in just 12 hours.
Ruth Smeeth, the Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent, said Jeremy Corbyn should be “naming and shaming” supporters who are attacking moderate Labour MPs “in his name”.
Counter terrorism police are investigating anti-Semitic comments made by a fanatic who threatened to hang Ms Smeeth “from the gallows.”
She is reportedly receiving special protection from police after receiving the foul-mouthed death threat on Facebook.
The abuser accuses her of “treason” and says the gallows would be a “fine and fitting place” for her.
The threat was issued in July, soon after the MP fled the launch of Labour’s report into anti-Semitism in tears after being accused by a Momentum activist of colluding with the right-wing press.
Ms Smeeth accused Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn of a “catastrophic failure of leadership” for failing to intervene during the incident and said the Labour Party “cannot be a safe space” for British Jews.
Speaking to the BBC this morning the MP said: “Since the end of June I have received somewhere in the region of 25,000 pieces of abuse.
“I got 20,000 pieces of abuse within 12 hours and once it starts on social media it keeps going.”
“It’s vile, it’s disgusting and it’s done in the name of the leader of the Labour Party, which makes it even worse.
“I know that Jeremy Corbyn will condemn this, but it’s not about condemning, it’s about what people are doing in his name and what is now seemingly acceptable.
“This is being done in his name, not by him, but in his name. He should be naming and shaming some of the worst perpetrators and making it clear publicly that they do not speak for him – that this is unacceptable.”
In a statement to the BBC, Cobyn’s office said: “No abuse is carried out in Jeremy’s name and no one responsible for abuse is a genuine supporter of Jeremy’s, who has repeatedly called for a kinder gentler politics.”