The content of a tweet a Labor MP appears to have reposted about Kemi Badenoch is “clearly appalling”, the Home Secretary has said as Sir Keir Starmer faces pressure to remove the MP’s whip backbench.

MP Dawn Butler appeared to share a tweet describing Ms Badenoch as a “member of the class of black collaborators with white supremacy”.

Ms Butler quickly deleted her retweet of a post by Nigerian-British author Nels Abbey, who responded to the prospect of Ms Badenoch becoming Tory leader by describing “Badenochism” as “white supremacy in black face”.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said she had not seen the message, but after reading extracts from it, she told LBC: “I clearly strongly disagree with this. »

Ms Butler has been heavily criticized by conservative figures, with several calling for her to lose the Labor whip post.

Ben Obese-Jecty, who was elected MP for Huntingdon in July, said Ms Butler was “not the only one on the government benches who had this view on Kemi”.

He said: “This will be a test to see whether Keir Starmer takes off the whip or whether he actually tolerates Butler’s abhorrent endorsement of this smear. »

The Home Secretary was pressed to explain why no action had been taken against Ms Butler.

She said: “As I said, I haven’t seen the message and I think these kinds of questions about parties are always the whip’s questions. »

Asked if the words in the message had a “racist sentiment”, Ms Cooper replied: “The words you have read are clearly appalling and I would strongly disagree with them.

“So I didn’t see the message. I don’t know the circumstances, but I think we should congratulate Kemi Badenoch on his election.

“I will continue to disagree with her on all kinds of issues, but I nevertheless congratulate her on her election.”

Sir Keir previously suspended Labor MPs’ whip post in response to comments about senior black Conservative politicians.

In 2022, he suspended Rupa Huq from the party for describing the then chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, as “superficially” black. Ms Huq apologized and had the whip restored six months later.

Other Labor figures, including Sir Keir and Foreign Secretary David Lammy, hailed Ms Badenoch’s election as the first black leader of a major British party as a historic moment.

In subsequent articles, Mr Abbey said his original comments were “clearly satirical” and “intended as a sketch”, but defended Ms Butler by saying she “might not welcome the ascendancy of a black far-right reactionary.

He added: “Because of things like this, which constitute vehement political disagreement, it is both right and normal that many black people do not view Badenoch as (the opposition leader) as a ‘moment of pride for our nation.” in the same way that, say, Keir Starmer does (or is politically mandated to do).