Munroe Bergdorf has resigned as an adviser to Dawn Butler following her “gay bash” and “hairy barren lesbians” slurs. She doesn’t apologise in her statement and instead blames the “conservative right wing press” for her downfall.

Following last week’s exciting announcement that I had accepted a place on an LGBT advisory board assembled to offer counsel to Dawn Butler MP, the Labour party’s women and equalities minister, it is with great sadness that I have decided to step down from the position.

This is a decision that I’ve had to make due to endless attacks on my character by the conservative right wing press and relentless online abuse. I refuse to be painted as a villain or used as a pawn in the press’ efforts, especially those at The Daily Mail, to discredit the Labour Party and push their transphobic rightist agendas.

I wanted my appointment to be something positive and exciting for the community, but instead it has turned into nasty tabloid fodder, blown out of all proportion.

This group was assembled to act as an informal sounding board, to make Ms Butler aware of LGBT areas of concern. This was an unpaid position alongside 20+ other activists and community figures. I accepted a place on the board because I felt that it would be an exciting and effective way of helping to shed light on issues that I felt were being overlooked and hopefully push needs forward.

I will not allow myself to be centred in this negative narrative, but more importantly I don’t want to stand in the way of the board serving as a positive catalyst for change within the UK’s LGBT communities.

I refuse to be used as a distraction from the upcoming discussions concerning the Gender Recognition Act and the Conservative party’s lack of action on the Racial Disparities Audit.

Thank you to those who have supported me during this time and to Dawn Butler MP who has been nothing but supportive.

With best wishes,

Munroe

She seems nice. Bye!

John McDonnell expertly landed the Leader’s Office in it as he comprehensively passed the buck over the Munroe Bergdorf controversy (Labour’s new equalities adviser, who thinks the suffragettes were white supremacists and “all white people” are racist). Despite being the most senior Labour figure on broadcast this morning, McDonnell refused to engage with the issue at all, and instead repeatedly made it clear that Bergdorf’s controversial views are Jezza’s problem:

“That will be a matter obviously for her employer, she’s employed directly by the Leader’s Office… I’m not sure about this particular issue, it will obviously be investigated by the Leader’s Office.”

Nicely done…

How about this for a lesson in the double standards of the BBC News website? Toby Young, who had to leave his job at a quango over some ill-advised historic Twitter jokes, was given wall to wall coverage. He features prominently again on the site today as the fourth main politics story, apparently more important than Britain considering military action against the Assad regime in Syria. Seriously?

Contrast that with Munroe Bergdorf, who Labour have appointed as an actual shadow cabinet adviser despite the fact she was fired just last year by L’Oreal over a race row. Bergdorf, a transgender model, has to resign in disgrace after claiming that “all white people” are racist. The same Labour faux outrage brigade who got Toby Young fired are obviously silent on this appointment and Corbyn and Dawn Butler are standing by her. The BBC write up buries the race row issue and the story doesn’t feature anywhere on the homepage. When it comes to the BBC website, once again it is one rule for the Tories and another for Labour…