Labour official suspended over tweets that Emily Thornberry 'too old' to be IS 'sex slave'

Labour has suspended a local party chairman over "abhorrent" comments about Emily Thornberry and Islamic State.

Ian McKenzie, who was running the  Lewisham East Constituency Labour Party, said in a 2016 tweet that the shadow foreign secretary was  "too old" for IS  to "make a sex slave of her. They'll behead her and dump her in a mass grave."

Mr McKenzie, who had been campaigning for Labour's upcoming by-election in Lewisham East, confirmed he had been suspended by email on Tuesday morning.

Mandu Reid, who is standing for the Women's Equality Party in the June 14 by-election, called the tweets "abhorrent".

She said: "They are clearly sexist and require an immediate apology.

"If he is kept on it will signal, very clearly, just how invincible the Labour Party feels in Lewisham."

Mr McKenzie's comments, which were unearthed by Owen Jones, the left wing commentator, were quickly criticised as "vile".

Shortly after his suspension, Mr McKenzie apologised for his comments and said in a statement: "I wasn’t advocating sex slavery, but condemning it. I stated a fact that is disputed by no-one. I did not advocate, nor joke about, Emily Thornberry’s killing, but the very opposite. My tweet was a deadly serious condemnation.

"I’m truly sorry that I caused this to happen. I hope that this unfortunate conflagration can be swiftly ended and that I may be able to go back to doing what I do best: asking people to vote Labour."

Mr McKenzie had helped mastermind last weekend’s victory for Janet Daby in Labour's Lewisham East selection race.

Ms Daby was chosen after hustings in south-east London on Saturday from a shortlist of black and ethnic minority women.