Labour MP Jess Phillips is not racist, her front bench colleague Bridget Phillipson has said after she was accused of “extreme and unprompted hostility” by high-profile headteacher Katharine Birbalsingh.
Ms Phillipson, Labour’s shadow education secretary, told Sky News there is a formal process available to those who wish to raise any concerns.
Speaking to Sky’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme, she was asked about accusations of “racist and bullying behaviour” by Ms Phillips, made by former chairwoman of the Social Mobility Commission Birbalsingh – once dubbed “Britain’s strictest headteacher”.
She accused the Birmingham Yardley MP of seeking to “whip up a social media mob” against her on Twitter.
“My reaction to anyone who feels unhappy about the conduct of a Labour MP is that they should complain through our processes and then the matter can be looked into,” Ms Phillipson said.
“And as Members of Parliament, we’re also subject to a code of conduct… and there are processes in place for people are unhappy with an MP’s behaviour, to report it in that way, I would suggest that to any individual that’s unhappy about the conduct of a Member of Parliament.”
Asked if she thought Ms Phillips is racist, she said: “No I don’t. But I think it’s important that if people have concerns, if they’re unhappy about the conduct of a Member of Parliament, that can be investigated as part of that process.”
The row came after Ms Birbalsingh, head of Michaela Community School in Brent, said she inadvertently tweeted a picture of Tina Turner alongside her abusive former husband Ike Turner amid tributes to the late star.
Ms Phillips then tweeted “hold the line!”, adding: “Stay with me! Domestic abuse is never ok and we will defeat those who prop up the status quo…”
Ms Birbalsingh, who describes herself as having “small c conservative values”, wrote a four-page open letter to Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer featuring a series of tweets from Ms Phillips.
She wrote: “She inspired a vicious mob attack against me on Twitter on the evening of May 24 2023, and called into question my school’s safeguarding policies in a deliberative attempt to challenge my competence as a Headteacher.”
She also said that she would be reporting Ms Phillips to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.
‘Her behaviour is a clear example of “unconscious bias”‘
Ms Birbalsingh wrote: “Ms Phillips does not know me. She has never met me. She has never visited my school. The school is not in her constituency. In her Shadow Ministerial role, she has not previously publicly accused any other school headteachers in this way.
“My view is that Ms Phillips’ extreme and unprompted hostility towards me is motivated by my race. By this I do not mean that she hates all people of colour.
“Her behaviour is a clear example of ‘unconscious bias’. I mean that she hates me, despite not knowing me, because she subscribes to the idea that Black and Asian individuals in public life owe a duty to voice opinions that match with a left-wing view of the world, or they are worthy of her contempt.”
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Ms Phillips, the shadow minister for domestic violence and safeguarding, is one of Labour’s most high-profile MPs and a regular user of Twitter.
Ms Birbalsingh, who recently spoke at the National Conservatism conference in London, said she was a “floating voter” and was not a member of the Conservative party.
But she claimed her attendance at the right-wing event helped explain Ms Phillips’ anger towards her.
She said Ms Phillips had brought Labour into “disrepute” and called on Sir Keir to take action.
“I would like assurances that regardless of what views are held by any member of your Shadow team or party, baseless and unfounded abuse will not be directed towards my school and me. This is entirely unacceptable,” she told the Labour leader.
Sky News has contacted Ms Phillips for her response.