Jess Phillips just isn’t racist, says Labour frontbencher after accusations by Katharine Birbalsingh

Labour MP Jess Phillips just isn’t racist, her entrance bench colleague Bridget Phillipson has stated after she was accused of “extreme and unprompted hostility” by high-profile headteacher Katharine Birbalsingh.

Ms Phillipson, Labour’s shadow schooling secretary, instructed Sky News there’s a formal course of accessible to those that want to elevate any considerations.

Speaking to Sky’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme, she was requested about accusations of “racist and bullying behaviour” by Ms Phillips, made by former chairwoman of the Social Mobility Commission Ms Birbalsingh – as soon as dubbed “Britain’s strictest headteacher”.

She accused the Birmingham Yardley MP of searching for to “whip up a social media mob” in opposition to 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 stated.

“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 stated: “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 got here after Ms Birbalsingh, head of Michaela Community School in Brent, stated she inadvertently tweeted an image of Tina Turner alongside her abusive former husband Ike Turner amid tributes to the late star.

Ms Phillips then tweeted “hold the line!”, including: “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 chief Sir Keir Starmer that includes a sequence 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 additionally stated that she can be reporting Ms Phillips to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.

‘Her behaviour is a transparent instance 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’ excessive and unprompted hostility in direction of me is motivated by my race. By this I don’t imply that she hates all folks of color.

“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 home violence and safeguarding, is certainly one of Labour’s most high-profile MPs and an everyday person of Twitter.

Ms Birbalsingh, who lately spoke on the National Conservatism convention in London, stated she was a “floating voter” and was not a member of the Conservative celebration.

But she claimed her attendance on the right-wing occasion helped clarify Ms Phillips’ anger in direction of her.

She stated Ms Phillips had introduced Labour into “disrepute” and referred to as on Sir Keir to take motion.

“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 instructed the Labour chief.

Sky News has contacted Ms Phillips for her response.