Apologise or face lawsuit, Labour members tell MP Lucy Allan

The Telford MP launched a Facebook rant against "a small group of bully boy councillors, thugs and henchmen" who she claimed had hounded her for two years, before going on to name them.

Members of the executive committee of the Telford Labour Party today published an open letter to Ms Allan in which they claim the comments made by the MP are "defamatory and untrue".

It goes on to say the post, which was taken down hours after it was put up, caused "a great deal of alarm and distress to those councillors concerned and also their families".

The letter calls for Ms Allan to issue an immediate apology and claims the councillors involved are taking legal advice as a result of the comments.

It adds: "We wholeheartedly condemn the abuse or harassment of anyone – on social media or otherwise.

"We take an extremely dim view of this behaviour and we are clear that this behaviour has no place in the Labour Party or any other political party."

The release of the open letter comes as claims were made by two former staff members of Ms Allan's that she subjected them to bullying and abuse while they worked in her Telford office.

Arianne Plumbly said Ms Allan bombarded her with voicemail messages while she was signed off sick for four weeks by a doctor while she was suffering with stress.

The 26-year-old, herself a Tory town councillor, said today it was a "nasty" environment to work in and called on her former boss to resign.

Ms Allan continues to fail to respond to calls from the Shropshire Star despite repeated messages left at her London and Telford offices.

Her Facebook and Twitter accounts continue to be suspended.