‘Misogynistic' Reform activists depict female cabinet ministers as cows in abattoir
Labour has called on Nigel Farage to take action after an image emerged from a Reform local election stunt depicting female cabinet ministers as cows in an abattoir.
The roadside set-up in Hertsmere, Hertfordshire, shows deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, chancellor Rachel Reeves and education secretary Bridget Phillipson are all depicted as cows waiting to be slaughtered.
The stunt, pictured by a passerby and passed to The Independent, was damned as 'dehumanising' and 'misogynistic.'
It has shocked political parties in Westminster, where MPs, including Mr Farage, are having to take extra security measures to protect themselves from potential attacks.
The imagery of a slaughter house has brought back memories of attacks on MPs, including the deaths of Labour's Jo Cox and the later Tory MP Sir David Amess.
Other MPs have been attacked, including Labour minister Stephen Timms, who was stabbed. And the danger faced by politicians was underlined last week when homes linked to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer were set on fire.
A Labour spokesperson said: 'This is a dehumanising and misogynistic portrayal of hardworking female Cabinet members who are delivering change for our country on behalf of the British people.
'If Nigel Farage wants his party to be in any way seen as remotely professional, he should start by condemning this 'stunt' and confirming nothing like this will happen again."
A Lib Dem spokesperson added: 'This is horrifically misogynistic and after seeing politicians murdered in recent years, inferring that some should also be sent to an abattoir cannot be dressed up as anything other than an attack on democracy.
'Nigel Farage needs to step in and launch a full investigation and anyone associated with this vile stunt must be expelled from Reform.'
The stunt was bedecked with Reform posters during a hard-fought campaign where the party gained 677 council seats and two mayoralties across the country.
There is no evidence to link it to any national campaign.
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