Labour MP shares post telling abuse victims to ‘shut up’

A rising star of the Labour Party who is a key ally of Jeremy Corbyn shared a Twitter post telling sex abuse victims of the Rotherham scandal to ‘shut their mouths for the good of diversity’.

Naz Shah, who represents Bradford West, shared and liked the post by a parody account of newspaper columnist Owen Jones.

It said: ‘Those abused girls in Rotherham and elsewhere just need to shut their mouths. For the good of diversity.’

It comes just days after Ms Shah, 43, penned an open letter attacking fellow Labour MP Sarah Champion for writing an article stating ‘Britain had a problem with Pakistani men targeting vulnerable white girls’.

Rising star Labour MP Naz Shah, pictured, shared a Twitter post telling victims of sexual abuse to ‘shut their mouths’

The post, pictured, was written by a parody account of columnist Owen Jones and Ms Shah later deleted it. Her spokesman said it was a 'genuine mistake'

The post, pictured, was written by a parody account of columnist Owen Jones and Ms Shah later deleted it. Her spokesman said it was a ‘genuine mistake’

Ms Shah, a mother of three, later deleted her retweet and unliked the post.

But her actions were criticised by Equality and Human Rights Commission chief executive Rebecca Hilsenrath who said she should ‘know better’.

She told The Sun: ‘We need to keep the victims of these horrific crimes at the heart of the debate and always remember that diversity is not served by silence.’

As reported on MailOnline, Ms Shah, a Muslim, was suspended by the Labour Party in 2016 for making anti-semitic comments online.

Writing on Facebook, she said a ‘solution’ to the Middle East conflict is to ‘relocate Israel into the United States’, adding that ‘transportation costs will be less than three years of defence spending… problem solved’.

The inflammatory outburst was accompanied by a map of America with a small section representing Israel shaded in.

Miss Shah later apologised in a statement to the Commons: ‘I accept and understand that the words I used caused upset and hurt to the Jewish community, and I deeply regret that.’

It came after Ms Shah attacked fellow Labour MP Sarah Champion, pictured, for speaking out about the Rotherham sex scandal in an open letter

It came after Ms Shah attacked fellow Labour MP Sarah Champion, pictured, for speaking out about the Rotherham sex scandal in an open letter

She was then stripped of the Labour whip pending an investigation.

Her suspension was lifted three months later and she was welcomed back into the party.

On the Twitter posts, a spokesman for Ms Shah told the Sun it was a ‘genuine accident rectified within minutes’.

The spokesman said: ‘Her record speaks for itself. Naz has been working for over 20 years on the issues of child abuse, violence against women and grooming, which is well documented.

‘She has and will continue to advocate for all victims, and work towards eradicating this evil from society.’

Her letter about Ms Champion’s article in The Sun said the comments were nothing more than ‘blanket, racialised loaded statements’ which stigmatised the Pakistani community.

The article, she said, published in the wake of the latest Asian sex grooming scandal in Newcastle, was ‘irresponsible’ and was ‘setting a dangerous precedent’.

Miss Shah’s stand was singled out for praise by Jeremy Corbyn. He posted her letter on his Facebook page, accusing The Sun, and by implication Sarah Champion herself, of using ‘Nazi-like terminology about a minority community’. 

Ms Champion later left the Shadow Cabinet, in which she had served as Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities Minister, amid claims she was ‘hounded out’.

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk