Labour chairman's aide blasted over 'disgusting' call for Theresa May to have 'noose around her neck'
2 min read
An aide to Labour chairman Ian Lavery has been condemned after saying Theresa May "would look better with a noose around her neck".
Paul Robertson, who works as a parliamentary assistant to the party bigwig, posted a photograph of the Prime Minister on Facebook this weekend saying she was "poised to exploit" the Royal Wedding.
When a fellow Facebook user asked him to stop "putting pictures up of that ugly harridan", Mr Robertson replied: "She would look better with a noose around her neck."
The now-deleted post - first unearthed by Mail Online - drew swift condemnation from the Conservatives, with deputy chairman James Cleverly hitting out at the "disgusting comments".
The senior Tory added: "When Jeremy Corbyn was elected Labour leader, he promised a 'kinder politics'. Once again we see violent language towards Conservative women from the very top of the Labour party, it shows they do not take that pledge seriously."
Jeremy Corbyn's spokesperson today branded the comments "unacceptable", and said of Mr Roberston: "He has apologised. It's been made clear to him that it's entirely unacceptable by Ian Lavery and any complaint will be investigated against any Labour party member under our rules and procedures."
Mr Lavery's spokesperson also distanced the Labour chairman from the "wholly unacceptable" post. They added: "All those working for the Labour party or for members of parliament have a particular responsibility to ensure the highest possible standards of behaviour and this has been reiterated to all of Mr Lavery's staff."
Mr Robertson said in a statement that he apologised "unreservedly for making this highly inappropriate and offensive comment over the weekend". He added: "I also apologise to Mr Lavery for having caused embarrassment to his office."
The latest row comes after a separate controversy over the chairman of the Lewisham East constituency Labour party, who was yesterday suspended over a string of tweets about Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry, in which he had said she was "too old" to be made a "sex slave" by Islamic State extremists.
"I wasn’t advocating sex slavery, but condemning it," he said in a statement seeking to clarify his remarks.
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