Soldier facing probe over threatening tweet to Labour’s Angela Rayner
The shadow education secretary was warned she will ‘perish when civil war comes’ after she criticised a Government minister over Brexit.
A serving British solider is facing investigation over an abusive tweet sent to senior Labour MP Angela Rayner warning she will “perish when civil war comes”.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the message was “unacceptable” and that the soldier concerned was being investigated by both the Army and the civilian police.
The incident comes amid concern that the furious exchanges in Parliament over Brexit are leading to growing numbers of violent threats to MPs from members of the public.
The tweet was sent from the soldier’s Twitter account, which has since been deleted, after Ms Rayner, the shadow education secretary, criticised the performance in the Commons of Attorney General Geoffrey Cox.
It read: “Ohh f*** off you stupid bitch, c**** like you will perish when civil war comes and its coming. 17.4 million people are gunning for blood if we don’t leave.”
Mr Wallace tweeted: “This foul language goes against the values of the Armed Forces and is now being investigated by the Army and civilian police.
Lieutenant General Ivan Jones, the commander of the Field Army, tweeted that he would like to “apologise personally” to Ms Rayner and anyone affected by the “appalling” tweet from the soldier’s account.
“Rest assured this is being dealt with,” he added.
An Army spokesman said: “We are aware of a post made on Twitter in reply to an MP. This incident has been referred to the civilian authorities to investigate.
“The Army is a politically neutral organisation and holds its people to the highest standards.”
