Len McCluskey, leader of the Unite union, joked to Angela Eagle about hitting her after she challenged Jeremy Corbyn for the party leadership, it was claimed this weekend.

Eagle’s twin sister Maria later confronted McCluskey, a staunch ally of the hard-left Labour leader, after hearing what had happened, according to one witness.

McCluskey told Maria, who is also a Labour MP: “It’s a joke, it’s a joke,”, according to the witness. But she insisted: “it is not funny, not funny, Len,” when Angela had received so much abuse for challenging Corbyn.

“If you think that is funny then you have a funny sense of humour saying that to someone who has been threatened with being killed and is being abused on social media,” Maria told