Emily Thornberry has repeatedly refused to condemn John McDonnell for describing Esther McVey, the newly appointed Work and Pensions Secretary, as a “stain of inhumanity”.

Ms McVey has faced a renewed vicious hate campaign since her appointment on Monday with the senior Tory MP even facing death threats.

The abuse has prompted renewed scrutiny of the remark made by Mr McDonnell in 2015 when he insisted that he had “nothing to apologise for” after he also repeated an activist's call for her to be "lynched".

Ms Thornberry would not be drawn on whether she believed Mr McDonnell should apologise as she said it was “a matter for John” but that she “wouldn’t speak in those terms”.

The shadow foreign secretary was grilled on the appropriateness of the shadow chancellor’s comment after she condemned Toby Young for controversial messages he posted online in the past.