A Labour MP has launched a blistering attack on internet trolls who branded her “a slag” over her choice of dress in the Commons.
Tracy Brabin bared a shoulder while voicing her concerns about press freedom after selected journalists, including those from the Mirror, were banned from a press briefing at Downing Street.
The MP – who took over from murdered Jo Cox – said: “My Twitter feed was going mad. I was scrolling through the insults.
“It was like some Victorian parlour game, you know, I’ve shown a bit of ankle. We used to call it slut-shaming.
“I was a prostitute, a slag, a slut, really demeaning words.”
The Shadow Culture Secretary, who took on her role last month, said it was crucial that female politicians challenge the abuse.
She said: “It’s that sense that a powerful woman speaking about important things, obviously the only way you can shut her up is to talk about the way she looks.
“It’s a way to diminish us. It’s a classic case of men feeling they have every right to comment on a woman’s attire.
"If it was [my predecessor] Tom Watson, nobody would say a thing. Whatever I decide to wear, it’s not appropriate for you then to tell me what I should and shouldn’t wear.”
She revealed picking out her clothes was hard at the moment as she lived in a tall house with a broken ankle.
The £35 ASOS dress she wore in the Commons has been flying off the shelves since the speech – and she says she received “phenomenal” cross-party support from her fellow MPs.
Ms Brabin admitted she got used to the “blurring of that line” between public and private life when she worked as an actress on Coronation Street.
But the Batley and Spen MP added: “There is that sense of respect for MPs that has eroded because of Brexit. People got away with calling me a traitor.”
She added she has been “unsettled” by death threats in the past and urged ministers to speed up the introduction of the online harms bill to crack down on vile internet trolls.
Ms Brabin also spoke to the Mirror about No.10’s journalist ban, saying: “It’s my worry that they’re targeting journalists to reset the dial about who is in charge here.”
