What’s happened between Jess Phillips and ‘Britain’s strictest headteacher’?

Labour MP and shadow minister for domestic violence and safeguarding, Jess Phillips, has been accused of “racist and bullying behaviour” by “Britain’s strictest headmistress” after she pointed out the teacher had shared a photo of Tina Turner’s abusive ex-husband in a tribute to the late singer.

Katharine Birbalsingh, who heads up Michaela Community School in Wembley, blamed an “ill-functioning gif” for the image of Ike Turner and Tina being shared on Twitter in May, and claimed the Birmingham Yardley MP’s tweets following the mistake were “motivated by my race” and a “clear example of ‘unconscious bias’”.

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In one tweet posted at the time, Ms Phillips wrote: “Hold the line! Stay with me! Domestic abuse is never ok and we will defeat those who prop up the status quo.

“Hold the line! Stay with me! We will win.”

Another read: “I’m courageous enough to tweet under my own name. Seems that far from holding any kind of line, that headteacher woman seems not to be able to take criticism of her actions.

“I’d be keen to hear of domestic abuse policies she has in her school or teaching plans. Perhaps I’ll write.”

In her open letter to Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, shared online on Saturday, Ms Birbalsingh said she will be submitting a formal complaint to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner and urged the leader of the opposition to “consider seriously” what “motivates the intensity of this hostility”.

She added: “I would like assurances that regardless of what views are held by any member of your Shadow team or party, baseless and unfounded abuse will not be directed towards my school and me. This is entirely unacceptable.

“You didn’t go to great effort to repudiate the antisemitism within your party, for racism to replace it.”

While Labour has not commented on the issue, Ms Phillips shared a tweet on Monday in which she explained she had been in Sussex with her family without internet access while Ms Birbalsingh published her letter.

“Pain in my neck has been sunburn. Off to work now, full day of drs appointment, visiting three local schools and giving evidence to police on behalf of constituents.

“I’ll get to the rest later,” she said.

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