Labour’s Dawn Butler has been accused of “race-baiting insanity” after she retweeted a post labelling new Tory leader Kemi Badenoch a “white supremacist.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has come under pressure to remove the Labour whip from Brent East MP Ms Butler after she appeared to share a tweet in which Ms Badenoch as a “member of white supremacy’s black collaborator class”.

Former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng told GB News: “She has a history of this.

“On a personal level, I’ve always got along with her, but her race-baiting is completely absurd. You can imagine that if Kemi had lost, she would’ve said exactly the same thing.

“She would’ve said, ‘Of course, Kemi lost because the Tories are racist, and Britain is racist.’ Now that she’s won, she’s still calling it racist. This is madness.”

Referring to calls for Ms Butler’s suspension, Mr Cleverly added: “I genuinely believe that, given what she’s said, she should have the whip removed.

“There should be some disciplinary action against this… she’s accusing Kemi, incredibly, of being a sort of front for white supremacy. I mean, that’s literally what she’s suggested.

“You can see exactly how they think, because if Rob, for instance, had won, they’d say exactly the same thing – that it’s white supremacy, or something similar.

“Everything they disagree with, they try to filter through this same narrative, regardless of the actual circumstances.

“Years ago, say 20 or 25 years back, you had to deal with straightforward, old-fashioned racists. The problem now, I think, is people like Dawn Butler, because they’ll label you a coconut or throw all sorts of other names at you.

“Absurdly, they’re accusing Kemi of being a white supremacist or a face of white supremacy, using incredibly offensive language, which, if anyone else used it, would see them reprimanded.”

“The real threat, the ones who use race relentlessly and ruthlessly, are on the extreme left.”

Asked whether such mudslinging might damage Ms Badenoch’s future electoral chances, Mr Kwarteng said: “I think the vast majority of people will judge her on her own merits, and if she does a good job, I believe she has a very strong chance of being elected.”

Ms Butler swiftly deleted her retweet of a post from Nigerian-British author Nels Abbey, which responded to the prospect of Ms Badenoch becoming Tory leader by describing “Badenochism” as “white supremacy in blackface”.

Sir Keir has previously suspended the whip from Labour MPs in response to comments about senior black Conservative politicians.

In 2022, he suspended Rupa Huq from the party for describing then-chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng as “superficially” black. Ms Huq apologised and had the whip restored six months later.

Other Labour figures, including Sir Keir and Foreign Secretary David Lammy, hailed Ms Badenoch’s election as the first black leader of a major UK party as a historic moment.

In later posts, Mr Abbey said his original comments had been “clearly satirical” and “intended as a sketch”, but defended Ms Butler saying she “may not welcome the ascendancy of an extremely right-wing reactionary black person”.