Labour’s Lucy Powell faces embarrassment after accidentally sending abusive messages criticising fellow MPs to a phone message group of which they were part.

The Manchester Central MP, who was chief of staff to the former party leader Ed Miliband, let rip about the “ludicrous, nonsensical, pretend, unreal, bollocks position” of the party in a WhatsApp message meant for moderate allies.

Powell, 42, went on to mock Angela Rayner, who replaced her as education spokeswoman, and Tulip Siddiq, who was also a frontbencher at the time, for expecting to become ministers “in an actual Labour government”.

When Powell realised she had messaged a group used by all female Labour MPs, she apologised profusely for “being a cow”, saying she had learnt “a terrible lesson”.

The blunder