Guardian columnist Julie Bindel has tweeted PinkNews to accuse a “trans cabal” of “running a witch hunt” – it follows fierce criticism of an article by fellow columnist Suzanne Moore.

In an article published in the New Statesman on 8 January, titled ‘The Power of Female Anger,’ Suzanne Moore said: “[Women] are angry with ourselves for not being happier, not being loved properly and not having the ideal body shape – that of a Brazilian transsexual.”

She then defended her use of the phrase “Brazilian transsexual” in a follow-up article in the Guardian, titled ‘I don’t care if you were born a woman or became one’ – and also in a series of Twitter conversations.

During a heated exchange with twitter user @jonanamary, Moore defended her use of the word, before finally tweeting: “People can just fuck off really. Cut their dicks off and be more feminist than me. Good for them.”

Responding to the row, Guardian columnist Julie Bindel tweeted @PinkNews: “Can those of us who hate bullying PLEASE do something about the trans cabal running a witch hunt everytime they get offended?

Bindel’s tweet quickly drew several critical remarks.

Twitter user @SteveDonnan said: “’Trans cabal’? Do you mean the LGBT community? Or as everyone else calls us, ‘society.’”

Tara Hewitt, a Conservative Party supporter who has previously written for PinkNews, tweeted: “Can those of us who hate transphobia point out to the ignorant @bindelj thats transphobia is bullying….”

Paris Lees, the editor of digital trans magazine Meta – and who has previously criticised the columnist for her remarks about the trans community, tweeted at Bindel: “When did telling people they probably shouldn’t make jokes about marginalised groups constitute bullying? Drama queen…”

Bindel responded to Lees by tweeting: “No. I mean the death threats, poison pen emails to my editors and employees, yelling in public declaring me a c***, etc.”