Amber Rudd claims 'thuggish' Jeremy Corbyn has encouraged hard left violence
2 min read
Amber Rudd has launched a scathing attack on Jeremy Corbyn, calling him a "thuggish Labour leader" who has encouraged the "violent elements of the hard left".
The Home Secretary suggested Mr Corbyn had not done enough to condemn the hostility of some of his supporters.
Ms Rudd's Hastings and Rye seat, where she has a majority of just 346, is one of Labour's prime targets for the next general election.
The Labour leader himself visited the south coast seat for a rally over the summer.
The Sun reports Ms Rudd told a fringe event at the Conservative conference in Manchester: "We need to remember that Jeremy Corbyn, out there though he is surrounded by his acolytes and the crowds sometimes, is nothing more than a thuggish Labour leader.
"We know the sort of encouragement that he has given to some of the more violent elements of the hard left.
“When he is challenged with that all he says is 'it's alright, I oppose all racial disharmony’.
“But actually he needs to call out some of the activity that has gone on in his hard left party that he has given shelter too, and he should not be allowed to do that.”
Elsewhere, Theresa May's deputy Damian Green yesterday claimed it was Labour and not the Tories who were the "nasty party".
He hit out at Kensington MP Emma Dent Coad for what he called "abuse of Prince Harry", and said there was an "undercurrent of anti-semitism" in Labour.
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