Jess Phillips tells LBC she stands by calling Tories 'thick' amid row over politicians language
4 May 2024, 19:22
Labour MP Jess Phillips has told LBC she's "absolutely fine" with a tweet she posted calling Conservatives "thick" - amid a row about politicians' language.
Shadow cabinet minister Wes Streeting faced heavy criticism for his own tweet claiming a victory for London Conservative mayoral candidate Susan Hall would be a "win for racists, white supremacists and Islamophobes the world over".
Yesterday, a national vote projection indicated the Tories were only 9% behind Labour, and anonymous Conservative sources told a journalist they thought they could "bridge that gap in the polls".
Writing on Twitter, Ms Phillips said it showed the Tories were "too entitled and frankly thick":
She doubled down on the comments when speaking to LBC: "I think that's it's absolutely fine to call people who are thick, thick, when they say thick things - and pretending this has been a good result.
"I don't know who's done the media training that says when faced with massive losses and swings against you, you should go out and pretend you've just won Miss World.
"It's really bizarre and the reason I think it's stupid - and they're stupid for doing it - is the public hate it.
"The public hate being treated like fools and actually, they're treating the public like they're thick.
"If they called me thick, I would just be able to prove them wrong so they've got every opportunity to do that".