As the Labour leadership race enters the final furlong, followers are alert for any gaffes that will mark candidates out from their rivals, so much so that Liz Kendall has been widely misquoted online as saying that disabled people are not ordinary.
In interview with BBC News, the Labour leadership hopeful said that when the party secured a landslide victory in 1997 “people thought were had a message that was, yes, for the weak and the vulnerable and for those who were suffering, but for ordinary people too.”
But as is fast-paced nature of Twitter, Kendall was misquoted and the incorrect statement quickly circulated online. Before long, a petition calling on the politician to apologise had garnered over 1,000 signatures.
According to Liz Kendall, there are weak, sick & disabled people, and there are "ordinary people". Thanks, Liz. #bbcnews #Labourleadership
— Margo Milne (@MargoJMilne) August 16, 2015
so #LizKendall doesn't reckon #disabled peeps are ordinary another reason to vote #JeremyCorbyn #VoteCorbyn pic.twitter.com/vgGlcSS89V
— Sophia C Botha (@sophiabotha74) August 16, 2015
Memo to Liz Kendall—When you say "We must support the disabled (sic), but we must support ordinary people" you show your ordinary ignorance.
— Anthony Lawton (@rsutcliff) August 16, 2015
@LizforLeader so, there are "disabled people" and "ordinary people"? https://t.co/egn5iS4mdX pic.twitter.com/BHnE5UGlz4
— Puddy Tat (@Catford_Cat) August 16, 2015
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Signatories demanded that Kendall withdraw her statement and apologise.
“I'm sick to the back teeth of politicians stigmatising and scapegoating people on benefits, particularly the disabled!” wrote one person on the change.org website.
Novelist and former Conservative MP Louise Mensch was among those to debunk the tweet.
.@Salted2 @Lescromps what Liz Kendall actually said was completely and totally different. the "quote" invented pic.twitter.com/xM6QCODnem
— Louise Mensch (@LouiseMensch) August 17, 2015
Labour leadership: The Contenders
The Independent has contacted the Labour party about the incident, and is awaiting a response.
The incident comes after former Foreign Secretary David Miliband weighed into the debate over who should take the party’s helm, by urging people to reject the “angry defiance” offered by frontrunner Jeremy Corbyn and opt for the “fresh thinking and political courage of Liz Kendall.”
