Labour MP criticised for sharing tweet which mocks Theresa May as 'ugly'

Emma Dent Coad defended her comment on social media, adding it was a 'joke'

Emma Dent Coad is the new Labour MP for Kensington (PA)

A Labour MP has been criticised after sharing a social media post referring to Theresa May as “ugly”.

The Kensington and Chelsea MP Emma Dent Coad said she “loved” the message which quotes Roald Dahl’s novel, the Twits.

Under a picture of the Prime Minister, the text reads: “If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until you can hardly bear to look at it.

Next to an image of Jeremy Corbyn, however, the post adds: “A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly.

“You can have a wonky nose and crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts it will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.”

But the MP was quickly criticised on social media. The Conservative MP Steve Double said: “Oh dear Jeremy Corbyn I think she needs another one of your little chats.”

Former foreign office minister Hugo Swire added: “Is this woman really suitable for public life?”

A third Conservative MP, Brandon Lewis, said the social media post summed up the “nasty streak running through Labour these days”.

Asked about her Twitter post on Sky News, Ms Dent Coad said: “It’s a joke. It is Roald Dahl and the things that I’ve had thrown at me over the last five months you would not believe.

“I have had four death threats. Making a joke about the Roald Dahl thing, I think, is pretty minor compared to some of the stuff other people get all day.”