Diane Abbott has accused the Government’s political violence tsar of trying to “demonise” pro-Palestine activists by warning that MPs faced intimidation from supporters of the cause.

Lord Walney handed a dossier to Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, at the weekend detailing abuse directed at candidates during the general election campaign and warning of a “dark underbelly of extremism”.

He said in an interview with The Guardian that the UK had seen an increase in “US-style politics of aggressive confrontation and intimidation”, raising the risk of another assassination attempt on a British politician.

The political violence tsar added that he believed intimidation was more regularly being used as an “electoral strategy” and that there was a particular pattern of abuse “created by aggressive pro-Palestine activists”.

Ms Abbott, the re-elected Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, criticised Lord Walney over his remarks, which she said represented an attempt to “demonise” pro-Palestine supporters.

Sharing the interview on X, formerly Twitter, she wrote: “John Woodcock is a Boris Johnson appointment. He has no credibility. This is just a crude effort to demonise all those who support Palestinian rights.”

Her comments come after some Labour candidates and MPs spoke of being targeted by bullying and intimidating behaviour over the course of the campaign, particularly over the party’s handling of the conflict in Gaza.

Lord Walney has urged Ms Cooper to launch an immediate inquiry into the intimidation of candidates during the general election campaign.

He told The Sun on Sunday: “MPs have been murdered while serving their communities. The threat is real and must be confronted or more lives may be lost.

“The abuse ­captured on camera during this campaign is bad enough, and there is a darker underbelly of extremism that is coordinated and sinister. It must be exposed and stamped out by the new Labour Government.”

Jess Phillips, the Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, was booed and jeered by pro-Palestine supporters during her acceptance speech on July 4.

As she was drowned out by chants of “free Palestine” and “shame on you”, the re-elected MP said: “I see we’re going to continue with the class that we had during the campaign…

“I understand that a strong woman standing up to you is met with such reticence.”

Meanwhile, Jonathan Ashworth, who was central to Labour’s winning campaign but lost his Leicester South seat to a pro-Gaza independent, said he was forced to hide in a vicarage from protestors.

He told LBC last week: “I was chased down the street, shouted at and screamed at for 40, 45 minutes, so I had to seek refuge literally in a vicarage. And they waited for me outside.

“And even when I came out [of] the vicarage, they were shouting at me with megaphones. There were leaflets going around, accusing me of being ‘Genocide Jon’, anonymous leaflets.”

He added: “The vitriol is like something I have never seen, even though I’ve called for a ceasefire, even though I’ve called for Palestinian statehood.”

Lord Walney is a crossbench peer and ex-Labour and later independent MP. He was appointed as a Government adviser in November 2020 following a boom in activity among far-Right, far-Left and other political groups during the coronavirus pandemic.