What is really going on in politics? Get our daily email briefing straight to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

A Darts fan has sparked fury after dressing up in blackface as MP Diane Abbott at the World Championships in Alexandra Palace.

The arrows spectator is at the centre of a raging Twitter storm after a bookmakers shared a picture of his fancy dress during last night's first round matches.

The photograph shows the man, who is unnamed, with a blacked-up face and hands while wearing a black wig, glasses and red jacket complete with Labour rosette.

He is also seen holding a sign which reads 190 - 10 more than the maximum 180 score on a throw - which may be seen as a possible jibe at Ms Abbott.

(Image: PA)

Labour's Shadow Home Secretary was criticised over her handling with figures earlier this year when she stumbled through a car crash interview on LBC with Nick Ferrari.

While outlining Labour's plan to put 10,000 more police officers on the street, Ms Abbott said the policy would cost £300,000, then £80 million, then around £800 million over four years.

The picture emerged when it was shared on Twitter by independent bookmakers Star Sports Bookmakers, who described it as an "early contender" for best fancy dress in the competition, which started on Thursday.

The company has defended its post and told a Labour colleague of Ms Abbott to 'stop taking things so seriously' when she complained it was prejudiced.

The caption alongside the image reads: "An early contender for best fancy dress costume at the #PDC #WorldDartsChampionships tonight at #AllyPally."

(Image: Newcastle Chronicle)

The post, which has now been shared by thousands of Twitter users, immediately sparked a backlash with one man describing darts events as "like a p*** up at the EDL convention".

Another woman simply said. "Awful. Just awful."

Among those to slam the bookmakers was Ms Abbott's Labour colleague Stella Creasy.

She tweeted: "Wow @ StarSports_Bet - guess it says what you really think of your customers that you promote this..hoping Yourallypally expect better about those using their beautiful venue …as bookies or punters… 21stcenturycalling."

But the firm hit back at the Labour politician to "stop taking things so seriously" as it defended the picture.

Star Sports Bookmakers tweeted: "This wasn’t some guerrilla marketing stunt Stella; one of our team attended on a social night out.

"We thought it was a very impressive attempt at fancy dress and merely shared it with our followers. Please stop taking things so seriously."

Ms Creasy later tweeted the company should "go off to the 19th century" after one user told her to "have a day off".

Mirror Online has approached the company, based in Hove, Sussex, for comment.

But the firm appeared unapologetic when contacted by the Independent and claimed nothing it had previously posted has had such a "positive response" on social media.

A spokesperson told the website: "We were at Cheltenham yesterday and we were also at the darts and there were people taking pictures with guys in Batman outfits and Superman outfits, and also this guy in a Diane Abbott outfit.

“We tweeted it and it has had an unprecedented response in terms of retweets and likes.

“Ultimately you’re not going to please everybody all the time - we have never had anything on our social media that has had such a positive response.”

Mirror Online has contacted Alexandra Palace for comment.