LABOUR’S candidate at last year’s general election has said she is “disgusted” by her party leader’s actions in sacking the shadow education secretary.

Sir Keir Starmer dismissed his former leadership rival Rebecca Long-Bailey after she was criticised over an article she shared on Twitter.

Mrs Long-Bailey had tweeted an interview with the actress Maxine Peake, who said the police involved in the death of George Floyd in the US had learned their tactics from “seminars with Israeli secret services”.

Former Bournemouth East parliamentary candidate Corrie Drew retweeted Mrs Long-Bailey’s comment that “Maxine Peake is an absolute diamond”.

After the shadow education secretary was dismissed, Ms Drew tweeted: “I’m disgusted by Sir Starmer’s sacking of @RLong_Bailey. He’s confirmed my worst suspicions about his brand of ‘unity’.”

When Maxine Peake issued a clarification and acknowledged that she had been wrong about the training of the Minneapolis police, Ms Drew said: “The reasonable among us realised this… You are a brave and wonderful human being. Solidarity.”

A spokesman for Sir Keir Starmer said the interview in the Independent contained “an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory”.

His statement said the leader “has been clear that restoring trust with the Jewish community is a number one priority”.

In a later tweet, Ms Long-Bailey said her sharing of the interview “wasn’t intended to be an endorsement of all aspects of the article”.