Rebecca Long-Bailey finally deletes tweet that got her sacked by Keir Starmer

Rebecca Long-Bailey. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images) - Credit: Getty Images

Rebecca Long-Bailey appears to have finally removed the tweet which saw her sacked from the shadow cabinet.

Long-Bailey, the former shadow education secretary, had tweeted praise of an interview with Maxine Peake in which the actress said the police tactic of kneeling on someone’s neck, which killed George Floyd, was ‘learnt from seminars with Israeli secret services’.

It also praised Corbyn more than Starmer, when she claimed the new leader was a ‘more acceptable face of the Labour Party for a lot of people who are not really left wing’.

Tweeting a link, Long-Bailey wrote: ‘Maxine Peake is an absolute diamond’.

After criticism, she refused to remove the tweet, explaining: ‘I retweeted Maxine Peake’s article because of her significant achievements and because the thrust of her argument is to stay in the Labour party. It wasn’t intended to be an endorsement of all aspects of the article.’


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The leader of the opposition’s office is reported to have spent four hours trying to call the MP asking her to delete the original tweet. When she failed to remove the tweet she was fired.

It was finally removed on Tuesday evening at 11.43pm, according to politwoops.co.uk.

Speaking to the media after her sacking, Long-Bailey claimed it was an ‘avoidable mess’.

She said: ‘When he did call me, he had made his decision.

‘It was a mess, and an avoidable one. Of course I take responsibility for my own actions.

‘Would I have retweeted the article knowing some of its contents would cause hurt? No of course not.’

Peake later clarified her remarks: ‘I feel it’s important for me to clarify that, when talking to The Independent, I was inaccurate in my assumption of American Police training & its sources.

‘I find racism & antisemitism abhorrent & I in no way wished, nor intended, to add fodder to any views of the contrary.’