Speaking to Sky and LBC, the MP said that she received 90,000 tweets “most of which were abusive” in 2018 over a spat with then Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
At the time, Dame Margaret Hodge was facing an investigation over calling Corbyn a “f***ing racist and an anti-semite.” She then compared the process to the Jewish experience of Nazi-Germany, which received scathing responses from Twitter users such as comedian David Baddiel. The investigation was later shelved.
In an interview with Sky, Hodge called social media discussion and parliamentary debates “Bullingdon Club antics”, in reference to the infamous Oxford Union society. After the interview she posted the video on Twitter, which was shared by Sky journalist Kate McCann.
The MP received some support on Twitter, with users such Paul Singh pointing out that Dame Hodge received abuse for being Jewish within the Labour party, and that she was merely holding Jeremy Corbyn “to account”.
However activist Ash Sarkar called for clarification on the 90,000 number, questioning whether this was in relation to total mentions or abusive comments within those mentions. Some users called her own comments to Jeremy Corbyn abusive.
Dame Margaret Hodge has been an MP for Labour for over 30 years. She started her political career at Islington council, before becoming the MP for Kettering in 1994. Under Tony Blair’s government, Hodge held a variety of ministerial positions. In September 2019 the Barking Labour members voted for a “trigger ballot” to hold a full selection process for their next representative in a general election. She was re-selected before the 2019 election.