The former Tory MP Louise Mensch came unstuck on Friday night when a series of apparently antisemitic suggested Twitter searches that she said were indicative of abuse from Jeremy Corbyn supporters turned out to be a record of her own search history.
The author tweeted a picture of a Twitter search bar, into which she had typed the handle of Liz Kendall’s Labour leadership campaign account @lizforleader. Referring to the options that then appeared underneath, she wrote: “Twitter’s autocomplete on Liz Kendall MP. This is the sewer that is Jeremy Corbyn’s support.”
But it was soon pointed out to her that they weren’t suggested searches – they were Mensch’s own search history.
Twitter's autocomplete on Liz Kendall MP. This is the sewer that is Jeremy Corbyn's support. pic.twitter.com/H7gAQWkfGa
— Louise Mensch (@LouiseMensch) August 21, 2015
Mensch later admitted her error and faced ridicule by people who mocked up their own versions of search histories attacking Mensch.
So here's my autocomplete on Louise Mensch pic.twitter.com/GJWQQX8Vzw
— John Prescott (@johnprescott) August 21, 2015
Oh my word @LouiseMensch, have you seen what people have been searching for?! pic.twitter.com/j3lm8kauQq
— Jonny Gabriel (@JonnyGabriel) August 21, 2015
Each of the search terms in Mensch’s history related to Judaism, Israel or Nazism in an apparent reference to claims of antisemitic abuse sent by people claiming to be Corbyn supporters. The Labour leadership frontrunner has faced questions about his own links to Holocaust deniers. And he has called on his supporters not to send abuse to his leadership rivals.
The abuse is, without fail, from #Corbyn supporters only. No Kendall-Burnham supporters swear at Cooper, either. https://t.co/Jtc9hjQ6UZ
— Louise Mensch (@LouiseMensch) August 21, 2015
Mensch was unbowed by the criticism and continued to post examples of abuse she said had come from Corbyn supporters. She did not respond to a request for comment.
