Jess Phillips was heckled by pro-Palestine activists after narrowly defeating a far-left candidate who has accused Labour of backing Israeli “genocide”.
The re-elected MP for Birmingham Yardley beat Workers Party candidate Jody McIntyre by just 700 votes on Thursday night.
After being declared the winner, Phillips’s attempt to give a victory speech was interrupted by chants of “free Palestine”.
She told the audience at the count: “I see we’re going to continue with the class we had during the campaign.”
The Labour MP continued: “I will carry on with my speech. I understand that a strong woman standing up to you is met with such reticance.”
Faced by more chanting, she asked officials to throw those heckling her out of the venue.
The campaign, Phillips said, was the “worst election I have ever stood in”.
“I love that my seat was a marginal seat, I think marginal seats make better members of Parliament,” she said.
A “brilliant” community activist who had joined her to campaign was filmed on the street and had her tyres slashed, Phillips claimed, while a woman canvassing on her own was screamed at by an older man.
She would not allow the family of Jo Cox MP, who was killed by a far right extremist during the Brexit campaign, to campaign with her because of the “aggressive” mood.
Phillips concluded: “I didn’t bring my children here tonight, because I knew this would happen and they deserve better.”
Phillips won 11,275 votes while McIntyre recieved 10,582.
Speaking to Muslim news website 5Pillars during the campaign, McIntyre said Labour would lose seats in Birmingham “god willing”.
“Yes Palestine is a big issue… but this is not the only issue we’re campaigning on and it’s not the only reason we’ve got the overwhelming amount of support that we’ve got.”
Labour’s position on Gaza is “abhorrent, disgusting, if not criminal,” he added.
Many Muslim voters supporting his campaign would never return to supporting the party, McIntyre claimed.
“We call them the genocide party, we call them the party of injustice and corruption,” he added.
In a WhatsApp message published by LBC, he was meanwhile revealed to have said: “I honestly think the trans community are a danger to society… but we can have different views.”
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