A member of the Labour party has reportedly been suspended after a tweet sent from an account associated with his blog asked a Jewish journalist if the “allegations” she was a Zionist were true.
Emma Barnett hosted Radio 4’s Women’s Hour last Tuesday and interviewed Jeremy Corbyn on his free childcare pledge.
However, Mr Corbyn was left red-faced after he was unable to answer Ms Barnett’s question as to how much the policy would cost, with the presenter saying “you’re logging into your iPad here. You’re announcing a major policy and you don’t know how much it will cost?”
In the aftermath of the interview Ms Barnett was the target of abuse on social media, with a number of people claiming to be supporters of Mr Corbyn keen to point out her “Zionism”.
One account with the name of @Labour_Insider, tweeted saying:
“BREAKING NEWS
Allegations have surfaced that @Emmabarnett is a Zionist.
Are the allegations true Emma”.
As reported by The Times, the “Labour Insider” account is attached to a blog of the same name, set up by Phillip Jones, a Labour Party member. Mr Jones has denied sending the tweet himself.
Mr Jones has been reportedly suspended by the party pending an investigation. The same day as his interview with Ms Barnett, Mr Corbyn made a point of calling out such behaviour from those claiming to support him.
The Labour Party told the Times that it “takes all allegations of abuse and antisemitic behaviour seriously.
“As Jeremy Corbyn made clear at the launch of Labour’s race and faith manifesto, we will not tolerate it.”
