Labour has been plunged into another election crisis after it emerged that a candidate made a series of derogatory posts about female politicians and Prince William.

Ian Byrne is running in the safe seat of Liverpool West Derby and has seemingly been endorsed by leader Jeremy Corbyn.

But a number of social media posts have emerged in which he attacked Baroness Michelle Mone, the founder of underwear brand Ultimo, accusing her of betraying her working class roots.

A post, which he shared in 2015, called for people to ‘hit the c*** where it hurts.’

He also commented on a post about housing minister Esther McVey, who was at risk of losing her seat, calling her a ‘b*****d… and soon to be gone’.

And in 2014, Byrne called Prince William a ‘horse faced t***’.

The Facebook posts were uncovered by LBC and the account has since been deleted.

Metro.co.uk have contacted the Labour party for comment.

Mr Byrne was selected last month to run in the Labour safe-seat, which former MP Stephen Twigg secured in 2017 with a majority of almost 33,000.

Mr Byrne, a Liverpool councillor, only won the candidacy race by two votes after receiving the backing of Mr Corybn allies John McDonnell, Laura Pidcock and the Liverpool Momentum campaign group.

The issue went to a recount.

Mr Corbyn appeared at a rally in Manchester in which he appeared to endorse Mr Byrne, who stood in the background.

The Labour leader said he was ‘very proud’ of party figures ‘some of whom are standing behind me.’

It is not the first time that Mr Byrne has come under fire for offensive comments.

In September, the Mail on Sunday reported that he wrote ‘it can only be a matter of time before Boris Johnson’s mum comes forward and tells us that she was raped by Jimmy Saville in 1963.’

Mr Byrne apologised for the rape slur against the Prime Minister’s mother that he made in 2012.

A statement from Mr Byrne issued to LBC said: ‘I am deeply sorry for the inappropriate and offensive language from the shop floor that I used several years ago on social media and would not use today.

‘I also shared a meme about a Conservative peer who voted to take away tax credits from the poorest and most vulnerable people. The person who originally posted the meme had used an unacceptable and misogynist language to describe her. This was not my language and I sincerely apologise.

‘I’m a very different person now and I’m grateful that the labour and trade union movement has enabled me and so many other working class people to represent and fight for our communities.

Through setting up Fans Supporting Foodbanks, I’ve been working to overcome divisions and bring our Liverpool community together and if I’m elected that’s what I will continue to do, transforming our communities in the interests of the many, not the elite few.’

Mr Byrne is not the only prospective MP whose old social media comments have come back to haunt them.

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