Bridget Phillipson of the Labor Party said after an online class that Jess Phillips is not a racist

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Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson has said Labor MP Jess Phillips is not a racist, following a social media row involving Phillips and a prominent teacher.

Kathryn Birpalsingh – from Michaela Community School – accused Ms Phillips of racism and bullying.

On Sunday, Ms Phillipson said Ms Birbalsingh should raise any concerns through a formal parliamentary process.

Birbalsingh had already written to Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer.

The feud began on Twitter after Birbalsingh posted a photo in May of the late pop star Tina Turner alongside her abusive ex-husband Ike Turner, with the caption, “Good times.”

In response, Ms Phillips, the shadow domestic violence and protection minister, wrote: “Domestic violence is never acceptable and we will defeat those who uphold the status quo”.

Shortly afterwards, Ms Birbalsingh deleted the tweet, then posted: “To the lunatics who accuse me of celebrating wife-beating – I tweeted a gif containing a number of pictures of Tina.

“For some reason it was based on one photo that I didn’t notice when I tweeted…and didn’t know it was Ike.”

She added, “The explanation is not that I like wife-beating.”

Later in the day – May 24 – Ms Phillips wrote on Twitter: “Far from keeping any kind of rhetoric the headteacher seems incapable of making criticisms of her actions. I’d be keen to hear what domestic violence policies she has plans at her school or teaching.” Maybe I’ll write.

In the four-page letter, she wrote that Mrs. Phillips “hates me, though not knowing me, because she endorses the notion that black and Asian individuals in public life owe a duty to express opinions that conform to a left-wing view of the world, or that they deserve its contempt.”

Ms Birbalsingh said she was not suggesting that Phillips “hates all black people”.

She added that Ms Phillips had called into question the protectionist policies at her school “in a deliberate attempt to challenge my competence as a headteacher”.

She said that after Ms Phillips’ tweets, people called her foundation saying it was “unsafe for teachers and schoolgirls”. She said the teaching regulatory agency had been contacted to request that she be delisted.

When asked by Sky News’ Sophie Ridge on Sunday if she thought Ms Phillips was racist, Ms Phillipson said: “No, I don’t. But I think it matters if people have concerns, if they are unhappy with the behavior of an MP He can be investigated as part of this process.”

The shadow secretary did not indicate Mrs. Birbalsingh’s ethnicity in any of her posts.

Ms Birbalsingh – who has been dubbed Britain’s strictest teacher – stirred controversy during her tenure as Chair of the Social Mobility Commission between November 2021 and January 2023.

She was criticized last April for saying girls were less likely to choose A-level Physics because it involved “hard math” – and she later admitted her notes were “pointless”.

She resigned as the government’s chief social mobility adviser in January, saying she was doing “more harm than good” in the role.

Recently, Ms. Birbalsingh – who describes herself as a “floating voter” – spoke at the National Conservancy Conference.

The BBC has contacted Ms Phillips for comment.

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