Jess Phillips not racist, Labour frontbencher says amid online row

Labour MP Jess Phillips is not racist, shadiness acquisition caput Bridget Phillipson has said, pursuing a societal media enactment involving Ms Phillips and a salient headteacher.

Katharine Birbalsingh - from the Michaela Community School - has accused Ms Phillips of racism and bullying.

On Sunday, Ms Phillipson said Ms Birbalsingh should rise immoderate concerns done a ceremonial parliamentary process.

Ms Birbalsingh had already written to Labour person Sir Keir Starmer.

The Twitter enactment began aft Ms Birbalsingh posted a representation successful May of the precocious popstar Tina Turner alongside Ms Turner's abusive ex-husband, Ike Turner, with the caption: "Good times."

In response, Ms Phillips, who is shadiness curate for home unit and safeguarding, wrote: "Domestic maltreatment is ne'er OK and we volition decision those who prop up the presumption quo."

Shortly afterwards Ms Birbalsingh deleted the tweet.

She past posted again, writing: "To the lunatics accusing maine of celebrating woman beating - I tweeted a gif with a fig of photos of Tina.

"For immoderate crushed it rested connected 1 photograph which I didn't announcement erstwhile I tweeted... nor did I cognize that was Ike."

She added that "the mentation is not that I similar woman beating".

Later that aforesaid time - May 24 - Ms Phillips wrote connected Twitter: "I'm courageous capable to tweet nether my ain name.

"Seems that acold from holding immoderate benignant of enactment that headteacher pistillate seems not to beryllium capable to instrumentality disapproval of her actions. I'd beryllium keen to perceive of home maltreatment policies she has successful her schoolhouse oregon teaching plans, possibly I'll write."

On Saturday, Ms Birbalsingh posted an open missive to Labour person Sir Keir Starmer connected her Twitter account, penning that Ms Phillips' behaviour was "a wide illustration of 'unconscious bias'".

In the four-page letter, she wrote that Ms Phillips "hates me, contempt not knowing me, due to the fact that she subscribes to the thought that achromatic and Asian individuals successful nationalist beingness beryllium a work to dependable opinions that lucifer with a near helping presumption of the world, oregon they are worthy of her contempt".

The shadiness caput did not notation to Ms Birbalsingh's ethnicity successful immoderate of her posts.

Ms Birbalsingh added that Ms Phillips called into question her school's safeguarding policies "in a deliberate effort to situation my competence arsenic a headteacher".

She said that aft Ms Phillips' tweets, radical contacted her instauration saying it was "unsafe for pistillate teachers and pupils". She said the Teaching Regulation Agency had been contacted with a request that she beryllium struck off.

Asked connected Sky News' Sophy Ridge connected Sunday amusement whether she thought Ms Phillips was racist, Ms Phillipson said: "No, I don't. But I deliberation it's important that, if radical person concerns, if they're unhappy astir the behaviour of a subordinate of parliament, that tin beryllium investigated arsenic portion of that process."

Ms Birbalsingh - dubbed Britain's strictest caput teacher - attracted contention during her clip arsenic the seat of the Social Mobility Commission betwixt November 2021 and January 2023.

She came nether occurrence past April for saying girls are little apt to take physics A-level due to the fact that it involves "hard maths" - aboriginal admitting her remarks had been "clunky".

She resigned arsenic the government's apical societal mobility advisor successful January saying that she was doing "more harm than good" successful the role.

More recently, Ms Birbalsingh - who describes herself arsenic a "floating voter" - spoke astatine the National Conservatism conference.

The BBC has contacted Ms Phillips for comment.