‘She whipped up a mob and attacked me personally’: Britain’s strictest headteacher claims Labour MP Jess Phillips spread ‘lies’ about her during extraordinary Twitter row sparked by death of Tina Turner

• MP Jess Phillips criticised Katharine Birbalsingh’s tweet after Tina Turner’s death
• Ms Birbalsingh hit back and has accused Ms Phillips of ‘unconscious racial bias’ 

Britain’s strictest headteacher has stepped up her complaint against Labour MP Jess Phillips, claiming she spread ‘lies’ about her and ‘whipped up a mob’ to ‘personally’ attack her.

Katharine Birbalsingh, founder of the Michaela Community free school in London, found herself at loggerheads against the politician in an extraordinary Twitter row following the death of Tina Turner last month.

Ms Birbalsingh’s tweet in tribute to the singer featured a 1960s image of Tina with her former husband Ike Turner, who was an abuser, along with the caption ‘good times’. 

Ms Phillips, the shadow minister for domestic violence and safeguarding, was one of many who shared the tweet and criticised the image. Ms Birbalsingh claims the incident led to a pile-up on social media and on Saturday, she complained to Labour with a four-page letter denouncing Ms Phillips.

In an interview with Times Radio today, Ms Birbalsingh lamented: ‘She didn’t even call me by my name, she called me that headteacher woman.

Katharine Birbalsingh, dubbed ‘Britain’s strictest headteacher’, found herself at loggerheads against MP Jess Phillips in an extraordinary Twitter row following the death of Tina Turner last month

The headmistress was embroiled in a Twitter row with MP Jess Phillips (pictured) following the death of Tina Turner

‘She bullied me with four tweets to 630,000 followers. I believe she broke the ministerial code in her behaviour.

‘I tweeted a GIF which malfunctioned and ended up saying good times over this picture of Tina and her ex-husband who obviously was abusive towards her, it was clearly a mistake

‘When I said it was a mistake, she, Jess Phillips, responded with “sure” sarcastically to her 630,000 followers.’

READ MORE: BRITAIN’S STRICTEST HEADTEACHER SAYS JESS PHILLIPS IS ‘RACIST AND BULLYING’ FOR FIRING UP ‘VICIOUS MOB ATTACK’ ON HER

Ms Birbalsingh has accused Ms Phillips of having ‘racial unconscious bias’ towards her.

She said: ‘[Ms Phillips] kept on quoting a speech I gave a week before at the National Conservative Conference which, she doesn’t engage with any of my arguments… what she does is just attack me.

‘Why would she do this, where is the anger coming from? And I believe that this is a pretty standard thing, which you sometimes see on the Left, which is this sense of betrayal when ethnic minority people don’t speak with a Leftist view.

‘If they don’t hold Leftist views, if they lean to the Right, there is cause to attack them because somehow they’re betraying the Left. And that is what I think is happening here.’ 

Ms Birbalsingh’s comments follow a sensational four-page open letter she sent to Sir Keir Starmer on Saturday, making a series of claims about his Shadow Minister for Domestic Violence and Safeguarding.

The row between the pair erupted in May following the death of pop icon Turner, which prompted Ms Birbalsingh, who described the star as ‘an iconic black voice of the 1980s’, to post a gif, made up of ‘different clips from her life’, with the caption ‘good times’.

However, she faced a backlash as the post appeared in users’ feeds with an image of her with Ike Turner, her abusive ex-husband.

Ms Phillips shared the tweet, which has since been deleted, and wrote: ‘Hold the line! Stay with me! Domestic abuse is never ok and we will defeat those who prop up the status quo. I repeat Hold the line! Stay with me! We will win

Katharine Birbalsingh (pictured), founder of the Michaela Community free school in London, posted a sensational four-page open letter to Sir Keir Starmer, making a series of claims about his Shadow Minister for Domestic Violence and Safeguarding

Page one of Ms Birbalsingh’s extraordinary open letter to Sir Keir Starmer, criticising Labour MP Jess Phillips

‘Hold the line’ is a popular phrase from the 2000 film Gladiator and was used by Ms Birbalsingh in a speech at the National Conservatism conference.

READ MORE: Schoolchildren now want to identify as HOLOGRAMS, Britain’s strictest head reveals 

When the headteacher claimed in a follow-up tweet – which has also since been deleted – that she didn’t support domestic violence, the MP responded by posting what Ms Birbalsingh described as a ‘sarcastic’ gif, captioned ‘sure…’

A further post by Ms Phillips then added: ‘I’m courageous enough to tweet under my own name. Seems that far from holding any kind of line that headteacher woman seems not to be able to take criticism of her actions. I’d be keen to hear of domestic abuse policies she has in her school or teaching plans, perhaps I’ll write.’

Ms Birbalsingh says that since the tweets were posted more than a month ago, she has endured ‘a deluge of Twitter abuse’, and claims parents have emailed the school asking for her dismissal.

In her extraordinary response, Ms Birbalsingh – who has made headlines for her controversial views on ‘woke culture’ in schools – wrote to Sir Keir: ‘I want to bring to your attention what I believe to be racist and bullying behaviour from one of your Shadow team. 

‘She inspired a vicious mob attack against me on Twitter on the evening of May 24, 2023, and called into question my school’s safeguarding policies in a deliberate attempt to challenge my competence as Headteacher.’

Page two of Ms Birbalsingh’s extraordinary open letter to Sir Keir Starmer, criticising Labour MP Jess Phillips

Page three of Ms Birbalsingh’s extraordinary open letter to Sir Keir Starmer, criticising Labour MP Jess Phillips

Page four of Ms Birbalsingh’s extraordinary open letter to Sir Keir Starmer, criticising Labour MP Jess Phillips

Her statement continued: ‘My view is that Ms Phillips’ extreme and unprompted hostility towards me is motivated by my race. 

‘By this I do not mean that she hates all people of colour. Her behaviour is a clear example of ‘unconscious bias’. 

‘I mean that she hates me, despite not knowing me, because she subscribes to the idea that Black and Asian individuals in public life owe a duty to voice opinions that match with a left-wing view of the world, or they are worthy of her contempt.’

Ms Birbalsingh went on to say she was submitting a formal complaint to the Parliamentary Standards Commmissioner about Ms Phillips’ actions, claiming they were in contravention of the Code of Conduct.

‘Allow me to be candid: how dare she?’ the teacher wrote.

‘How dare she possibly tell me after 25 years of working in  schools, with the people I have known, in the inner-city areas I have worked, that I am an advocate of domestic abuse.’

The statement went on to address Ms Birbalsingh’s ‘light skin’, which, even though she has a black Jamaican mother and an Indo-Guyanese father, she said was the result of masters historically raping their slaves.

‘I am therefore aware in my very bones of what some women suffer,’ she said. 

Ms Birbalsingh (pictured) has caused a stir in the past by claiming that Shakespeare’s presence on the curriculum was under threat from woke educators and that children should not be allowed smartphones

‘I am livid that Jess Phillips’ behaviour towards me trivialises the unspeakable horrors my great great grandmothers endured. Ms Phillips does not own this issue and she does not own us black women.

‘I would also add that in Ms Phillips’ contempt for me, she refuses to call me by my name. Perhaps this makes me seems sensitive. My name is part of my identity and if she wishes to disagree with me, she should have the respect to address me by my name. White people took our names in slavery times and imposed new ones.’

Her statement added: ‘She holds me in contempt for being a black woman who does not bend the knee and consider her master, and instead I commit the atrocious crime of expressing views for myself.’

Ms Phillips and the Labour Party have been approached for comment on the claims.

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