Teacher 'told pupils to shun a 13-year-old boy due to his father being a Tory MP', MPs hear

A teacher told pupils “not to talk” to a 13-year-old boy due to his father being a Tory MP, the Commons heard as politicians debated the abuse and intimidation of candidates during the general election campaign.

During the parliamentary debate, MPs also heard how activists were spat at during the campaign in Ealing and a partially sighted candidate in Chelmsford was threatened with rape and subject to online abuse, including a threat to “shoot her the pull the teeth out of her jaw while she fades away”.

The alarming experiences follow Theresa May’s decision to launch an investigation into the “horrific” and “shocking” abuse suffered by politicians during the snap election.

Speaking in the Commons, the former United Nations commander Mr Stewart, first elected as a Conservative MP in 2010, told colleagues that his four children have been “hassled” by other children in their local schools due to his job.

“There’s little that can be done about that because they’re children, and my kids are robust enough to withstand it,” he said.

“But such behaviour is taken to a new level when during the last general election a teacher tells the class of my 13-year-old boy that nobody should talk to him because he’s the son of a Conservative MP.”

Responding to Mr Stewart, the Home Office minister Sarah Newton said the case was “deeply upsetting and deeply troubling”.

“It’s a noble thing to stand for election,” she said. “It's a noble thing to want to represent your community whether as a councillor or as an MP in this place.

Liberal Democrat MP Christine Jardine also described how she was accused of ignoring the pause in the election campaign following the Manchester terror attack when she was instead burying her husband.

The Edinburgh West MP added: “On a day when I was coping not just with my own grief but with that of my daughter, I had to put up with a mindless, vindictive attack.”

“I was surprised: my husband's death had been widely reported not least by the newspaper for which he'd worked, but the abuse was retweeted, explanations were demanded and there were more abusive comments.”

During the general debate reported comments from George Osborne – that he would not rest until Theresa May is “chopped up in bags in my freezer” - were also criticised by Labour’s Commons leader Cat Smith.

In her opening statement Ms Smith said: “Only this week the former chancellor told colleagues at the Evening Standard that he will not rest until the Prime Minister is, and I quote, 'chopped up in bags in my freezer'.

She continued: ”He has previously described the Prime Minister as a dead woman walking who is on death row, and compared the Prime Minister to the living dead in a second-rate horror film.

“The reason that I raise this is because violence against women is a huge problem in this country.”