Advertisement

Labour MP Sorry For Jibe At Jeremy Hunt's Wife

Labour MP Sorry For Jibe At Jeremy Hunt's Wife

A Labour MP has apologised for a remark she made about Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt's Chinese wife.

Helen Goodman, who represents Bishop Auckland in Durham, tweeted: "If China is so great, why did @Jeremy_Hunt's wife come to England?"

The message appeared to be in response to Mr Hunt's suggestion that tax credits could encourage Britons to work as hard as people in fast-growing Asian economies.

Ms Goodman's comment sparked a sharp reaction, with Conservative MP Nadhim Zahawi writing: "Helen that is a terrible thing to say. I hope you delete and apologise to Mrs Hunt. Have you been hacked?"

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron pointed out that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn had called for an end to personal attacks in politics.

He tweeted: "Terrible tweet from @HelenGoodmanMP. Never attack politicians' families. I hope she apologises. Clearly she missed the 'Kinder Politics' memo."

Ms Goodman deleted the original tweet, and wrote in a message later: "Wish to absolutely totally apologise for earlier tweet."

A Labour spokeswoman said: "This does not represent the views of the Labour Party.

"Helen will be reminded of her responsibilities as an elected Labour politician."

Mr Hunt made the suggestion at a fringe event at last week's Conservative party conference, saying controversial changes to the welfare system would improve the country's work ethic.

He said: "My wife is Chinese, and if we want this to be one of the most successful countries in the world in 20, 30, 40 years' time there's a pretty difficult question that we have to answer which is essentially: are we going to be a country that is prepared to work hard in the way that Asian economies are prepared to work hard, in the way that Americans are prepared to work hard?

"And that is about creating culture where work is at the heart of our success."