Lisa Nandy puts down Katie Hopkins after she appears to back her for Labour leader

Lisa Nandy issues a put down to Katie Hopkins. Photograph: PA/TNE. - Credit: Archant

Lisa Nandy has received an unwelcome endorsement from far-right Katie Hopkins after she criticised every other candidates with the exception of the MP.

Hopkins had a long list of derogatory remarks to make about all of the candidates – Keir Starmer, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Jess Phillips and Emily Thornberry – and said that Clive Lewis was only on the list to add diversity.

But rather unhelpfully for Nandy, she called the Wigan MP “brilliant” and said she was “thoroughly credible”.

She also praised her stance on Brexit in which she campaigned for a softer departure from the European Union.

Unsurprisingly Nandy did not welcome support from far-right troll Hopkins, swiftly moving to put down the Tommy Robinson supporter.

“Has no one told you where my dad’s from?”, she asked. “Crawl back under your rock.”

Nandy’s father, Dipak, is an Indian academic and author who moved to Britain to attend Leeds university at the age of 20. He went on to become a member of the Council of the Institute of Race Relations and the BBC’s Immigrants Advisory Committee, and helped draft the Race Relations Bill.

By contrast Hopkins has done all she can to stoke up and inflame tensions in the country supporting the English Defence League founder Robinson.

She promptly hit back: “Hey Cheeky Nando… No one cares about your dad OR where he came from. Put your little race card away and pull on your big girl pants.”

Before Christmas she was forced out of her £1 million home to pay off a £500,000 legal bill which was brought about after writer Jack Monroe sued her for libel and won.