Labour Party apologises for 'disgraceful' Tory 'blood on their hands' pictures

The images of prime minister Boris Johnson, health secretary Matt Hancock and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Michael Gove were posted on Facebook by the party’s social media officer.

The post said Mr Johnson and his party had ‘completely mismanaged the Covid-19 crisis’ and added the easing of lockdown had been ‘farcical’. It added: ‘Boris Johnson and the Tories have blood on their hands. Stay home, stay safe.’

Labour’s Rosamund Knight, who stood in Havant in the 2019 general election, said the man who wrote the post ‘made a mistake’ thinking it was satire and added: ‘It was a very, very naive mistake.’

This latest political social media mis-step comes less than a month after a Portsmouth Conservative councillor was suspended for baking a hot cross bun that appeared to have a Swastika on it.

Official figures show the UK death toll for coronavirus is more than 40,000 with 10,000 deaths in care homes.

The post has since been deleted after it was called out by Portsmouth Conservatives on Twitter on Monday. The Tories were in turn criticised for tagging in their post a relative of a woman who died from Covid-19.

Initially Havant Labour apologised on Facebook and said: ‘And I thought the left were meant to be the “snowflakes” - seems a few on the right cannot handle some pictures - or some home truth.’

That post was revised five times in an hour and later said: ‘We apologise for the post, it has been taken down and that kind of thing will never happen again. We apologise for any offence caused.’

Havant MP Alan Mak said: ‘This vile post shows the Havant Labour Party is more interested in political point scoring online then helping the community during this difficult time.

‘I’m glad after five attempts they were able to finally admit the post was wrong on every level and have apologised.’

Mr Mak, vice chairman of the Conservative Party, said: ‘I hope that the individual responsible for this disgraceful post will be expelled from the Labour Party.’

Highlighting the images, Councillor Donna Jones - Tory group leader on Portsmouth City Council - reposted them on Twitter and said: ‘This post from the Labour Party makes me sad for sections of our society. It’s wrong #BeKind.’

She told The News: ‘After I posted on my public social media a plea to “#bekind” Labour not only removed the image, they also issued an apology.

‘None of this would have happened if I hadn’t have raised the issue. The aim was to prevent it happening again. It’s one of the worst pieces of political propaganda I’ve even seen in this country. I hope I have achieved my aim.’

Portsmouth councillor Terry Norton, a Conservative, said the opposition party showed ‘disgusting behaviour’. Fellow Tory councillor Scott Payter-Harris tweeted: ‘Utter disgrace. They need to be investigated for this.’

Copnor councillor Benedict Swann added: ‘This is utterly contemptible from a neighbouring Labour association. Hate in its absolute vilest form.’

Speaking to The News, Ms Knight said the unnamed person responsible was ‘very, very upset’ about the reaction he had received via Havant Labour’s social media.

She said: ‘We were getting threats... saying “watch your back” - he was being called scum.’

She added: ‘I'm not impressed with Donna Jones - if she found the post so offensive - why did she repost it?’

The former Havant MP candidate said: ‘It feels like they've posted it to deflect from their inadequacies. In fairness had the Conservatives posted something like that the other parties would have jumped on it.’

Asked her view on the government response to coronavirus, Ms Knight, who is making and donating scrubs for NHS staff, added: ‘They have made huge mistakes.’

SEE MORE: ‘Swastika’ hot cross bun row sees Portsmouth Conservative councillor Lee Mason suspended from Tory party

City councillor Thomas Coles tweeted: ‘Imagine being more offended by a satirical artwork than a policy of systematic culling.’

Portsmouth councillor Lee Mason was suspended from the Tory party and is now sitting as an non-aligned independent after baking a hot cross bun that appeared to have a swastika emblazoned on it.

He previously told The News: ‘I baked some cakes, yes, but I haven’t done a Nazi symbol on any of them. And there’s no Nazi symbols there.’

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