Katie Hopkins supporters are tweeting ‘I am Katie Hopkins’ in defence of far-right activist banned from Twitter

‘All her disciples on twitter should now shout out I am Katie Hopkins. I’ll start it off. I am Katie Hopkins,’ says account which does not appear to be a parody

Followers of far-right commentator Katie Hopkins are showing their support after she was permanently banned from Twitter by tweeting "I am Katie Hopkins".

Dozens of them have posted the message to show their solidarity with the one-time The Apprentice contestant.

The idea appears to be that of someone called – or at least calling themselves – Michael Barnbrook.

“Do you remember the film Spartacus where everyone stood up and proclaimed ‘I am Spartacus’,” he asked. “Following twitter banning Katie Hopkins, all her disciples on twitter should now shout out ‘I am Katie Hopkins’. I’ll start it off ‘I am Katie Hopkins’.”

A perusal of his timeline appears to confirm the tweet was not sent as a parody.

Other supporters have taken up the call to arms and tweeted their support of a woman who once called refugees fleeing war “cockroaches”.

“'I am Katie Hopkins’,” said one. “I am unapologetic in saying so. Katie Hopkins is a much needed counter balance to the left. If it was not for intimidation by the left, more people would openly say so. My goodness me, a total ban? We are in trouble.”

Ms Hopkins was permanently suspended from the social media platform on Friday for apparently violating its hateful conduct policy.

She had more than a million followers.

The social network did not say which of Ms Hopkins’ missives specifically had resulted in the ban.

But a spokesperson said: “Keeping Twitter safe is a top priority for us – abuse and hateful conduct have no place on our service and we will continue to take action when our rules are broken.”