Leave.EU, the unofficial Brexit campaign headed by UKIP’s former donor Arron Banks, posted the disgusting image of a man dressed as the Labour MP and Shadow Home Secretary on social media.
The unnamed man, snapped at a darts competition, was holding a sign reading 190 (the maximum score in darts is 180). Leave.EU posted with a caption that read “Maths was never her strong suit…!”, a joke about Abbott’s ability with numbers.
The image was initially posted by Star Sports Bookmakers, who eventually removed the photo and issued a reluctant apology earlier this week after receiving negative press coverage. Leave.EU posted the image the following day.
Shameless
In the run up to the June 2016 EU Referendum Leave.EU, figure-headed by Nigel Farage, mercilessly exploited fears around immigration and was condemned in many quarters of the press for toxifying the debate. The group is best-known for the notorious “Breaking Point” poster.
Since the Referendum Leave.EU has, if anything, become more extreme, pushing gutter nativist propaganda to stoke fears around Brexit, immigration and Islam.
Leave.EU also supported Defend Europe, the campaign of the leaders of the far right European Identitarian movement to impede search-and-rescue vessels in the Mediterranean.
Banks has previously come under fire after Leave.EU posted a picture of the Grenfell Tower disaster – which left 71 dead – with an advert for his car insurance firm GoSkippy.com in the corner.
Abuse
Diane Abbott, who became the first black female MP in the House of Commons in 1987, has been the regular target of racist abuse.
Earlier this week Labour MP Clive Lewis reported a racist Christmas card, featuring Abbott and received by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, allegedly produced by the British National Party (BNP).
Right-wing comic Kearse saves the worst material for his anonymous Telegram account HOPE not hate has identified an anonymised Telegram account belonging to the GB…
