The Tottenham MP has been branded “hypocritical” and a “fake news” generator after tweeting a four year old video of the prime minister allegedly in a move to distort public perception of this year’s Conservative Party conference. Mr Lammy was first called up on the video by Good Morning Britain presenter Piers Morgan who slammed it as “fake news”. The video shows Mr Johnson being pelted with plastic balls by protestors outside the Conservative Party conference in Manchester 2015, before being escorted into a metal arch by police officers, and is tagged “Boris Johnson as popular as ever”. 

With this year’s conference underway, the exclusion of a date on the Twitter post means the public hostility could be mistaken as current.

Mr Lammy has since deleted the post – but has refrained from making an apology. 

Writing about his decision to remove the post, the 47-year-old, said: “This was no intended to be an endorsement but simply an indication of the Prime Minister’s unpopularity. On reflection I can see you are right and that it could come across differently, so I will be deleting the tweet.”

But the move has angered Twitter users.

One person wrote it is a “sad reflection” of how “an MP sees his priorities that at a time when the very fabric of this great country is being torn apart by the reckless, bigoted and childish behaviour of MPs, he spends his time posting material intended to further worsen the situation”.

Another respondent said: “An old video but it’s good to know you condone this type of abuse. I assume if it happens to Corbyn you’ll be just as vocal about how unpopular he is. Them are the rules, no?”

Several others chipped into the debate to note the disparity in popularity between Boris Johnson and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, whose approval rating has plummeted.

The Labour leader has been hit with a major bombshell after a poll showed his approval rating had dropped to the lowest of any opposition leader since records began in 1977.

A huge 76 percent of Britons said they were dissatisfied with the way Mr Corbyn was doing his job.

Similarly, another poll revealed if the UK leaves the EU without a deal on October 31, Mr Johnson would rise to election victory with 37 percent of Britons polled claiming they would vote for the Conservative Party in a general election, the Daily Express reported. 

Another person, writing on Twitter, quizzed Mr Lammy over the state of the polls, claiming she has never voted Tory but supports Boris Johnson.

Mr Lammy and Mr Morgan have been head-to-head on social media with the pair fighting over the language used to describe Brexit just yesterday.

The MP for Tottenham has criticised the prime minister for describing the Benn Act – a law that stops the UK from exiting the European Union without a deal – as the ‘surrender bill’.

Mr Morgan asked: “Hi David, was it equally divisive when you accused Brexiters of surrender, in a House of Commons speech?.

Mr Lammy replied: “I did not accuse Brexiteers of surrendering. I said a Brexit deal “surrenders our voting rights” in the EU institutions. Which is undeniably true. Your both sides equivalence towards a Number 10 dismissing and legitimating threats of violence against MPs is sick.”

The GMB presenter fired back: “Your language is the most extreme & emotive of any Parliamentarian, which given the competition from many of your Labour colleagues is quite something. Try cooling your own rhetorical jets, Mr Lammy, before lecturing everyone else.”

Source: Read Full Article