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A regional political editor became embroiled in a Twitter row with left-wing columnist Owen Jones in which she told him he was "not a qualified journalist."

Jennifer Williams, the politics and investigations editor at the Manchester Evening News, told Mr Jones to stop treating journalists like a “bunch of b*******” during the spat.

The pair became involved in an argument following Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s controversial speech about media reform, and Mr Jones’s appearance on Newsnight backing him.

He told the BBC show that journalism is “the most socially exclusive profession other than medicine” and reporting is “seen through the eyes of privileged people”.

But Ms Williams tweeted: “Feel free to argue with me, Owen Jones, about where my public interest journalism comes from, which mogul is telling me and my colleagues across the country what to do and how to do it and how my relative poshness is a factor.

“Because actually here’s the thing: you earn your living writing polemic, which is fine, that’s a thing. But I earn my living doing public interest journalism. I know more about it.

"And if I sound angry it's because I am. I'm absolutely f****** sick of this."

Mr Jones replied: “I've never accused you of being dictated by corrupt media mogul overlords? Where is this even coming from? You're a journalist, why make stuff up? I've said the press is a) largely run by moguls and b) largely editorially backs the Tories, what's that got to do with you?”

Ms Williams responded: “Stating inequalities in media is not unreasonable and I agree it’s a problem. What I find deeply irritating is watching someone who - I think I’m right in saying - is not a qualified journalist passing their comment continuously on what a bunch of b******* we are.”

In Mr Corbyn’s media reform speech on Thursday, the Labour leader argued for "complete transparency" over the diversity of the BBC’s workforce, with the publication of data including social class.