MPs, trade unionists and activists voiced their solidarity with Labour MP Apsana Begum today as she continues to receive a barrage of racist abuse and calls to step down over a photo of her in front of a Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) stall.

On Tuesday, Ms Begum was forced to flee the Labour conference in Liverpool due to safety concerns after being targeted by the Tories over her solidarity with Palestinians. 

Tory Party chairman Greg Hands penned a letter to the Labour Party on Monday in which he demanded that they strip Ms Begum of the party whip, falsely claiming that she had tweeted her solidarity with the PSC campaign on Saturday. 

Ms Begum did not write the tweet, which instead came from PSC who thanked her for stopping by their stall, which was installed officially at the Labour conference and had received the green light from the party itself. 

Mr Hands accused PSC, a peaceful organisation that is not proscribed, of being “associated with anti-semitism and extremist ideologies.”

The Conservatives tweeted a screen-shot of the PSC post from their official party account, igniting a torrent of abuse at Ms Begum.

Along with a barrage of sexist and Islamaphobic abuse on Twitter, the right-wing media also piled on, with the Daily Mail and The Telegraph blasting Labour’s “refusal” to sack her. 

When Sky News asked shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves about the photo, rather than defending her collegue she said: “I don't think that Labour could be any clearer about our support for the right of Israel to defend itself.”

Labour MP John McDonnell, who stands with Ms Begum on the Socialist Campaign Group, said: “As a result of the targeting of Apsana Begum by the Conservative Party, she is now living in fear for her life.

“I am calling on all in the Labour and trade union movement to stand with and stand up for Apsana.

“This attack on a Muslim woman should be called out for the racist act it is. 

“I urge as many people as possible to use their various channels of communication to express their solidarity.”

Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, co-founder of Jewish Voice for Labour, said that that Ms Begum was a victim of a “hysterical reaction whereby all Palestinians lives are worth nothing because of the actions of a particular group.”

“This is abhorrent and we need to resist this,” she said.  

“There’s a hysteria about people like Apsana or anyone who ever has shown solidarity with Palestinians.

“They are getting accused of anti-semitism and of sympathising with anti-semitic jihadist terrorists — which is now the message: it’s on the BBC, across media.”

Fire Brigade Union general secretary Matt Wrack posted a message of solidarity to Ms Begum on Twitter.

He wrote: “Greg Hands, Tory chair, has no role in deciding Labour policy; mind your own business.

“Your party defended South African apartheid for decades. You are systematically undermining our democratic rights in the UK. Solidarity Apsana.”