Louise Mensch
Louise Mensch denies trying to smear the Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters as being anti-semitic

Louise Mensch has been caught in a social media storm after posting a screen grab of anti-semitic related searches. The former Conservative MP claimed the list of searches generated by Twitter were from searches made by supporters of Labour leadership frontrunner Jeremy Corbyn. They were then revealed to be listed from the history of her own searches on Twitter.

On Friday (21 August) the former Conservative MP tweeted a photograph of the search bar on Twitter, which she had entered the Twitter handle for Labour leadership candidate Liz Kendall. The photo showed a list of suggested searches that automatically appeared.

Mensch claimed these results were generated by searches from Corbyn followers trying to smear Kendall. Her statement attracting replies from several other Twitter users, who pointed out the results were previous searches she had carried out on Twitter.

Her original post stated: "Twitter's autocomplete on Liz Kendall MP. This is the sewer that is Jeremy Corbyn's support." Once she had realised the problem, Mensch posted: "Yes it's my search history. But 'pin it' on Corbyn supporters?"

Recently, Corbyn has been criticised over appearing on a speaking panel in 2009 which included Islamist Dyab Abou Jahjah. Jahjah allegedly fought for Hezbollah and was banned from entering Britain six years ago.

Jahjah has been branded an anti-semite, over reports that he described the gas chambers used in Nazi death camps during the Holocaust as "hoaxes". Six million Jews died during the Second World War.

Corbyn denied knowledge of Jahjah and stated, "I'm sorry, I don't know who this person is." he later admitted that he met Jahjah, saying that researchers had reminded him of taking part in the panel.

The leader of Labour's leadership contest has also hit back at critics who have accused him of being an anti-Semite and a racist. In a statement he said the claims were "beyond appalling, disgusting and deeply offensive" and has vowed to fight racism "until [his] dying day".

Mensch has denied claiming that she had made an attempt to smear Corbyn's campaign, tweeting: "I made no "bid to smear Jeremy Corbyn's campaign and it is a gross traducing of my character. Utter falsehood."

Despite saying that she did not attempt to link Corbyn's campaign with anti-semitism, Mensch has continued to send tweets connecting the Corbyn campaign with alleged anti-semites using the hashtag #AntisemitesForCorbyn. She has also tweeted that she will publish a list of the people in a blog post.

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