The Labour MP who was embroiled in a bitter row with local members over her support for a rally against antisemitism has said the tensions in the party have left her considering her future in parliament.

Rosie Duffield, who won the Canterbury seat in 2017 for the first time in the party’s history, said the furore over a motion against her by her local party had been a distraction from her work.

“Sometimes you have to ask yourself if positives outweigh negatives, and whether it is worth the effect it is having on my family,” she said.

The motion was withdrawn this week after an outcry from her Labour colleagues in parliament. Speaking to the Guardian, Duffield said the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, had privately been extremely supportive, but she hoped he would in future consider making a public intervention to support MPs facing censure from local party members.

“It would be really nice if Jeremy could help each MP going through this with a personal statement, to make it clear that people – even those who do it without knowing it – don’t do it in his name,” she said. “I am not an anti-Corbyn MP just because I am standing up to antisemitism. That is a really clear line we could adopt.”

The motion from party members criticised her for attending a demonstration against antisemitism in March and for speaking at the Jewish Labour Movement conference last month.

Motions do not have any formal status and amount to a rebuke by the local party, but they can pave the way for a formal deselection process. The motion against Duffield was withdrawn but she said there had been a tense meeting on Wednesday in Canterbury where she faced fierce criticism.

“It’s a complete distraction from our proper job, I have wasted so much time and energy on this,” she said. “It makes me really annoyed. For example, I wanted to go to the fracking debate, and I had a lot of constituents asking me to be part of it, but again today, the third day of this debacle, I’ve had to deal with the situation in the constituency and with the media.

“I didn’t get to write a decent speech, so I didn’t feel I could go to the debate, and it’s actually something I really care about and my constituents care about. So it’s a huge drain on my energy, on my time and it’s distracting from what I’m really here to do.”

Duffield, a former local branch chair, said she had never considered herself a part of any political faction during her time in the party.

A former teaching assistant and comedy writer, Duffield defeated the Brexiter Julian Brazier in the election and she credits the result to attracting remainers to vote Labour.

“I was never remotely interested in factions – it was about fighting the Tories,” she said. “I have a tiny majority and it’s such a shame we haven’t stuck together more and resolved some more of these issues. It is this small, tiny faction of about 1% of the party locally.”

Duffield said she had felt she needed to show solidarity with Jewish friends and colleagues. “They have been systematically abused and trolled and had hideous comments and even death threats by people, some within our party, and that’s not OK,” she said.

“We have to stand together with any group of people that experience racism and religious prejudice. Nobody I know thinks you cannot criticise a rightwing Israeli regime that bombs and maims innocent children in Palestine. But to use antisemitism in that argument is absolutely unacceptable. That is basic.”

Though other MPs including Joan Ryan, Frank Field, Kate Hoey and Gavin Shuker have faced critical motions from constituency Labour parties (CLPs) in the past few weeks, Labour figures have said privately they felt particularly protective of Duffield as a popular new MP in a very marginal seat that was one of the most eye-catching wins of the 2017 election.

Because it was a snap election, candidates such as Duffield were not selected via the usual process with local parties but applied directly to the NEC instead.

Duffield said the job had been a whirlwind. “It’s been fun, and difficult, and exhausting and I’m making more of a difference than I thought I could. I did expect it to be a bit more unified,” she said.

“Neither party has covered themselves in glory. We had such important messages to get out there, fighting this ridiculous no-deal Brexit, the new media reform policies, the water nationalisation, issues with rail – and it’s all been overshadowed. It’s really childish and I think people are very much turned off politics by it.”

Duffield said she believed some local members had misinterpreted her support for the march against antisemitism as a move against Corbyn.

“People thought I had gone to anti-Corbyn rally,” she said. “It was quite disturbing that people thought that by campaigning against antisemitism I was campaigning against Jeremy. That implies they think that he thinks antisemitism is OK, which obviously isn’t the case.”

Duffield said she had hoped to keep the internal quarrel under wraps but it had “snowballed” after being featured on the local news. “There was so much support, from every member of the PLP [parliamentary Labour party], I think. They are so supportive, including Jeremy. And the outpouring of support on Twitter has knocked me for six. It’s actually a bit embarrassing.”

The MP said it was “a shame” Corbyn had not felt he could intervene directly in public. “I think a basic statement supporting MPs who are trying to draw the distinction between the Israel-Palestine issue, and supporting colleagues who have been victims of direct antisemitism, that would be helpful,” she said.

“He did say in July it was not in his name, but a direct statement of support for us would be good, especially if we are facing this at the CLPs. It would be nice to have.

“Personally, he has been very supportive and very kind to me; he is a very kind man. But some of his supporters, who think they are speaking for him, need to hear a clear message that they are absolutely not.”

Duffield said she was concerned that some Labour members would be put off coming to meetings or canvassing because of some of the “vitriol” they had seen reported and on social media.

She said that would have an impact if the party brought in local selections. “I understand we have to be prepared to be selected on our merits, there wasn’t that open selection that normally happens at the last general election. And so I’m not afraid of it at all. But there is some concern that we could if we are not careful open the door to only having certain kinds of candidates.”

She added: “We have to safeguard all-women shortlists and we need to make sure it is not an excuse to overthrow people whose opinion you don’t like, if they are a good MP. We have to think carefully through the implications.”