Labour councillor calls for Margaret Thatcher to "burn in hell"

Florence Anderson made the comment in a thread open to the public on the Facebook page "Stop Margaret Thatcher getting royal send off," of which she is a member.

The comment was made as Baroness Thatcher, 85, was being treated in hospital for flu but Cllr Anderson was unrepentant.

She said: "I'm on Facebook as Florence Anderson. That's my private Facebook account.

"On Facebook, I'm not the deputy leader of the council."

Cllr Anderson, a grandmother who led the Eppleton Area Miners' Wives Support Group during the strike, also flatly refused to retract her comments about the former Conservative leader.

"I'm a miner's widow," she said. "I remember 84/85 as if it was yesterday.

"I hate Thatcher for what she did to my community, what she did to the ordinary people who live here."

She added: "I stand by what I said."

The comment was made during an exchange with Dominic McDonough, 21, who stood for the Conservatives in May’s council elections.

In response to his comment about his adoration for Baroness Thatcher, Cllr Anderson wrote: "Well dear Dominic, you can delete me from your page but you can't delete me from here, haha, I hope she BURNS IN HELL."

The thread has since been removed from public view.

On her Facebook profile, Cllr Anderson says she is as a Labour councillor for Hetton Town ward.

She declares her political views as “socialist” and is also a member of a group called “I’ll dance on Thatcher’s grave, even if she is buried at sea”.

She counts Labour MPs Peter Hain, Jim Knight and Bridget Phillipson amongst her online friends.

Sunderland City Council insisted yesterday that there would be no repercussions for the gaffe.

A spokesman said: “There are still strong feelings in many parts of the country about events during Margaret Thatcher’s time as Prime Minister and Cllr Anderson has expressed her feelings.”

Council leader Paul Watson, leader of the Labour group, said: "It was an entirely personal comment that was attributed to her."

But Sunderland Conservatives leader, Cllr Tony Morrissey, criticised her actions, saying: "It is entirely inappropriate for the deputy leader of the council to behave in this way.

"I don't condone anyone going on social networking websites, or anywhere else, and saying they hope someone dies in a horrendous way."

Tory Cllr Lee Martin said: "I doubt Lady Thatcher will lose much sleep over Florence's raging."

Mrs Anderson became the council's first female deputy leader in May 2008 and has been a Labour city councillor since 1991.

A website called http://www.isthatcherdeadyet.co.uk, was this week labelled "vulgar" and "despicable” by a Conservative party source.

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As a former Equalities Minister who was dedicated to helping minority groups, Harriet Harman perhaps should have known better.

But in an outspoken attack, the Labour Deputy Leader yesterday called Danny Alexander a "ginger rodent".

Delegates at Labour's Scottish conference could barely conceal their shock as Ms Harman, who is known for her strict adherence to politically correct views, turned her fire on the Chief Secretary to the Treasury in the least correct way imaginable, mocking his red hair and comparing him to a squirrel.

Speaking to the conference in Oban, she also said the Lib Dems in Scotland had become "political mutants" after joining a coalition with Conservatives.

Ms Harman began her attack saying people had been dismayed after the election to wake up and see "Nick Clegg with David Cameron in the rose garden of Number 10".

She said there was then "incredulity" at seeing Mr Alexander, an MP from the north of Scotland, becoming "the frontman for the Tory cuts".

"Now, many of us in the Labour Party are conservationists and we all love the red squirrel," Ms Harman said. "But there is one ginger rodent which we never want to see again in the Highlands – Danny Alexander."

She said every Lib Dem MP and MSP had "mutated into something alien to Scotland – Tories".

Posting on social networking site Twitter, Mr Alexander hit back. He said: "I am proud to be ginger and rodents do valuable work cleaning up mess others leave behind. Red squirrel deserves to survive, unlike Labour."

Before becoming an MP Mr Alexander was head of communications for the Cairngorms National Park, which is noted for its red squirrel population.

The Scottish Liberal Democrat election chairman, George Lyon, said: "There are no depths to which the Labour Party will not stoop. They aren't fit to be in opposition, let alone in government."

The SNP also hit out at the Labour deputy leader over her “childish abuse” of Mr Alexander.

Shirley-Anne Somerville MSP claimed that the high proportion of redheads in Scotland meant Ms Harman’s “silly remark isn’t anti-Danny or anti-Lib Dem, it’s anti-Scottish”.

Ms Somerville, herself a redhead, added: “Coming from the doyenne of po-faced political correctness, these remarks show she and Labour have lost the plot since losing the election.

"I wonder if she will be apologising since she often demands apologies from so many others.

“There’s a mountain of issues people can criticise Danny Alexander for but childish abuse about his appearance reveals Labour have little to say about the real issues of Westminster cuts, which they are equally responsible for.”

Later Ms Harman apologised for her comments, admitting she had been "wrong" to use the description.

A statement issued by Labour said: "Harriet Harman has today apologised for her comment about Danny Alexander and says it was wrong."

Senior Labour sources said they were relieved.

"These comments were ill-thought out to say the very least," one said. "It's the sort of thing that I suppose might seem funny and get a laugh in the hall - but when communicated to wider audience the reaction is understandably entirely different."

Two of the Labour leader Ed Miliband's senior staff - Stewart Wood, his chief of staff, and Katie Myler, his press secretary - are redheads.

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