A Labour MP has opened up about a terrifying incident that saw eight people in masks jump out and ambush her as an act of "deliberate intimidation".

Labour's Emily Thornberry was discussing political violence on a recent episode of Sky News' Electoral Dysfunction podcast following this month's attempted assassination of US presidential candidate Donald Trump.

The nearly 20-year veteran MP, who represents Islington South and Finsbury, said the harassment faced by politicians at the last election was the "worst" she's ever experienced.

She said the intimidation had been particularly bad for female MPs and those from ethnic minority backgrounds before revealing her own incident, which apparently involved the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Emily said: "Eight people jumped out at me with masks on and cameras and that was... it's hard. You know, it's very hard to deal with that when you're just knocking on doors and minding your own business."

She continued: "The guy who came up to speak to me didn't have a mask on, so I spoke to him. I put my hand out to shake his hand and he wouldn't give me his name and he didn't want to shake my hand so I thought....

"And then I realised; I looked round and there were all of these people with masks on and they were filming me."

Emily said she was with three or four others at the time and was fortunately able to escape via car, but she maintains it was "deliberate intimidation", and they were trying to film her "being frightened".

The MP said she didn't show "any fear at all" and asked her would-be assailants "what part of two-state solution" and an "immediate ceasefire" in Palestine did they "not like".

However, it would appear that it wasn't an isolated incident as Emily also revealed that she's had "all kinds of other things", including "climate change people" and somebody who claimed she hated the England flag.

She said: "I don't normally talk about this, but I do think that my experience is not unique, and I think that particularly for newly elected women MPs, unless something is done, they are likely to suffer this sort of thing."

Emily said there are issues around people recording "disgusting" footage on their smartphones and posting it online and urged the public to "call it out" if they discover any on social media.

She stressed that it's "misogynistic" to focus on female politicians, and she also wanted to remind people that "politicians are people", even if they are a "bit weird".