The former editor of The Sun has been widely lambasted for posting a vile Islamophobic tweet on X (formerly Twitter).
Kelvin MacKenzie – who became editor of The Sun in 1981 before leaving in 1994 – said on Twitter/X that he loved watching Labour leader Keir Starmer get “humiliated by the increasingly powerful and militant Muslim wing of his party”.
Starmer has met with Muslim MPs as he continues efforts to allay a growing backlash over his position on Israel and Gaza.
He was joined by his deputy, Angela Rayner, on Wednesday afternoon amid anger over his comments, which have sparked resignations from councillors.
Taking to X, MacKenzie added: “If you want a party run by a religion which embraces baby killers, granny murderers and mass slaughterers it will be Labour for you next Autumn.”
The 77-year-old was swiftly condemned, with the post’s visibility then limited as it “may violate X’s rules against hateful conduct”.
Radio and TV presenter Matthew Stadlen said it was a “disgusting tweet”, to which MacKenzie replied: “Thank you.”
Another user asked: “Is this not racist and Islamophobic hate speech?”
Adam Bienkov, political editor at Byline Times, added: “It shows how tolerated Islamophobia is in the British media that a senior figure like Mackenzie can regularly make comments like this one, which in this case is so grim that even Musk’s Twitter felt it had to intervene, and he’s still invited back time and again on TV and radio.”
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