Corbyn urged to act over online abuse of Labour MPs

A senior MP has called on Jeremy Corbyn to do more to curb the online abuse of colleagues, saying it is not enough for the Labour leader to condemn it.

Yvette Cooper, one of a number of MPs to have received death threats, told the Sunday Telegraph one Twitter user claimed they wanted to "behead" her.

Mr Corbyn, she said, should use his authority after his re-election to act.

The Labour leader has condemned "demeaning and corrosive" online abuse, saying it would not be tolerated.

Scores of Labour MPs have reported being abused online in recent months, prompting some to seek extra security measures, including in some cases police protection.

It comes after the death of Labour MP Jo Cox in the final weeks of the EU referendum campaign, who was stabbed to death in her constituency.

'Proper enforcement'

Ms Cooper, a former shadow home secretary, said Mr Corbyn and his allies should "back party staff when they try to tackle abuse".

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph on the first day of the Labour conference in Liverpool, she said: "Jeremy Corbyn has rightly condemned abuse many times. But when you are the leader of a party with a problem, especially when you have just been re-elected, you should use your authority to deliver action not just words."

The party leadership, she said, should "insist on higher standards and proper enforcement".

"No matter where it is from, abuse and intimidation entrench prejudice, silence debate and poison democracy. Even a small minority can drag everyone else down.

"Don't leave it to me to put proposals to the NEC after a year of calling for action - take a lead. I want them and all MPs to challenge supporters as well as opponents who try to use vitriol to silence others," she said.

McDonnell row

Ms Cooper, who put forward a series of proposals to Labour's ruling NEC last week, also urged the party to stamp out other forms of abuse and the heckling of journalists.

"Frankly I don't care where in the party this kind of abuse comes from, it has to stop," she said.

"We cannot allow a minority within our party to create a climate of hostility. Good people must not be driven away or silenced. We should defend our values together."

Speaking on ITV's Peston on Sunday, she urged shadow chancellor John McDonnell to apologise to former Conservative MP Esther McVey for comments he made about her in 2014.

Mr McDonnell sparked a row by repeating the words "why aren't we lynching the bastard?" - which had been aimed at the former Wirral West MP by a constituent of hers - in reference to Ms McVey during a comedy night.

In a subsequent parliamentary debate, Mr McDonnell suggested Ms McVey was playing the victim and he hoped that the electorate would "remove the stain of inhumanity" at the 2015 general election.

'Just wrong'

Mr McDonnell has repeatedly insisted that, in doing so, he was not inciting violence against the former MP but "in parliamentary debate, you have to be honest about how you feel".

But Ms Cooper said this was not acceptable: "The idea of saying that a woman MP as Esther was at the time should be lynched. I mean it was just wrong.

"People sometimes say things that they regret - apologise for them. Because if you don't it sets a climate of hostility and abuse."

In his acceptance speech on Saturday, Mr Corbyn said the leadership campaign had been "partisan" and people had said things that they regretted.

But he insisted that any form of harassment, intimidation or bullying had no place in the party and that Labour had a "duty of care" to its members.

"That means intervening to stop personal abuse and also abiding by the principles of natural justice in the way we handle it. Politics is demeaned and corroded by intimidation and abuse. It is not my way and it is not the Labour way."