Labour’s candidate in Stoke by-election blasted over tweet about hitting a woman
Gareth Snell sent out a plea for Deirdre from Coronation Street to be given a 'a good slap'
LABOUR’S desperate bid to hold the Stoke Central by-election was plunged into chaos after it emerged their candidate once tweeted about hitting a woman.
Gareth Snell sent out a plea for Deirdre from Coronation Street to be given a “a good slap” — prompting critics to brand him “a fool and a bully.”
Our revelation comes just hours after the wannabe MP was forced to apologise after a slew of sexist Tweets emerged where he called women “bitchy”, “sour-faced”, stupid” and “f***ing annoying.”
It will pile pressure on to Jeremy Corbyn to act as the party faces an acrimonious battle to hold the Staffordshire seat in next week’s crunch vote.
In January 2011 Gareth Snell tweeted: “Never mind Tracey being in a coma, someone should give Deirdre a good slap...”
The tweet is still present on Mr Snell’s social media account but he told The Sun he was “deeply sorry”.
He added: “It is clearly unacceptable and I apologise for the offence it has caused.”
Mr Snell previously sparked outrage after branding Brexit “a pile of s***” while hoping to win a seat that voted overwhelmingly to Leave.
And it emergerd on Monday also described panellists on Loose Women as “squabbling sour-faced ladies”, called presenter Janet Street-Porter a “polished t**d” and branded X Factor judge Danni Minogue as “bitchy”.
He also called a guest on Question Time a “stupid woman”, in comments unearthed by the Guido Fawkes website.
Embarrassingly he also appeared to tweet that Labour’s Diane Abbott was “incredibly a**ingly stupid”.
The revelation came just hours after Labour figures tore into Brexit boss David Davis for making sexist comments about Mrs Abbott.
Ukip — whose leader Paul Nuttall hopes to take the Stoke seat on 23 February in the contest triggered by the resignation of Tristram Hunt — said the comments were “distasteful”.
In a statement released on Monday afternoon, Mr Snell expressed regret for the remarks which he said had been made a number of years previously.
“I regret these tweets. They were from years ago when I was tweeting along with TV programmes but nevertheless, I shouldn’t have tweeted those comments and I apologise for the offence they have caused,” he said.
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But Ukip hit back claiming that “the people of Stoke-on-Trent Central clearly deserve much better than this to represent them in the House of Commons.”
Their Equalities Spokesman blasted: “This man is obviously a fool and a bully.
“It’s disgraceful that Labour have selected someone so childish, so unpleasant and so lacking in common decency.”
Margot Parker added: “There is no place in Parliament for someone who thinks that hitting women is acceptable.”
And Ukip’s Suzanne Evans said “clearly this man isn’t fit to be an MP.”
She added: “How he passed Labour’s vetting procedures is beyond me – or didn’t they bother?
Mr Corbyn also faced fresh embarrassment as it emerged that his cheerleader Paul Mason claimed that Labour voters deserting the party for Ukip were “toe-rags”.
The former TV journalist said Ukip voters “are the bloke who nicks your bike.”