Countdown’s Rachel Riley in court battle with former Jeremy Corbyn aide over ‘Nazi’ tweet

Rachel Riley on Monday claimed Jeremy Corbyn supporters attempted to get her sacked from her job at Countdown after a former aide accused her of labelling the former Labour leader a "Nazi", the High Court heard.

The television presenter, 35, said she feared bosses Channel 4 would terminate her contract in the wake of a social media backlash after Laura Murray said she was "as dangerous as she is stupid".

Speaking at a libel hearing at the High Court, Ms Riley said she became victim of a "concerted campaign... to get me fired from my job” by Corbyn loyalists after speaking out about ant-semitism in the party.

"Channel 4 accepted my explanation but this experience still made me feel vulnerable and worried about the security and longevity of my job," she said

The tweet at the centre of the legal proceedings was published by Ms Murray on March 3 2019, when the then Labour leader Mr Corbyn had an egg thrown on him by a Brexit supporter during a visit to Finsbury Park Mosque in north London.

Responding to the egging, Ms Riley shared an old tweet by the Guardian columnist Owen Jones about an attack on the British National Party leader Nick Griffin, in which Mr Jones wrote: "I think sound life advice is, if you don't want eggs thrown at you, don't be a Nazi."

Ms Riley shared Mr Jones’ tweet saying it was “good advice” alongside an emoji of an egg and a red rose, commonly used on social media to represent the Labour Party.

Ms Murray later tweeted: "Today Jeremy Corbyn went to his local mosque for Visit My Mosque Day, and was attacked by a Brexiteer.

"Rachel Riley tweets that Corbyn deserves to be violently attacked because he is a Nazi.

"This woman is as dangerous as she is stupid. Nobody should engage with her. Ever."

Ms Riley is now suing Ms Murray for damages, claiming that the tweet – which garnered 1,584 retweets, 4,883 likes and 736 comments – contained "defamatory statements of fact" about her.

Mr Justice Nicklin on Monday heard the opening arguments from lawyers representing the two women.

In a written statement, Ms Riley told the court: “I believe that I was targeted by the defendant because I had been critical of the Labour Party's handling of anti-semitism.

“It was an attempt to shut me up or to stop people listening to what I was saying by telling people that I was encouraging people to commit violence against Jeremy Corbyn.”

She continued: "The response to the defendant's libel of me was a concerted attack on me and my career.

"My career is in the public domain.

"A concerted campaign was initiated to get me fired from my job, as being someone who had advocated violence."

Ms Riley told the court that she had received an "onslaught of abuse" which prompted her to take steps to improve her "personal and home security" because she feared she was now a target for reprisals.

"I feared that the defendant's tweet would encourage vigilantism against me," she said.

"I was very concerned that I could be easily tracked down because I am a public figure."

Ms Riley claimed that her “good advice” tweet was sarcastic and intended to show the hypocrisy of Mr Jones and the left’s “selective support” for acts of violence against politicians.

“Owen Jones’ most prominent position is as a champion of the left, as a cheerleader for Jeremy Corbyn, and I was highlighting the kind of attacks he made,” she told the court.

Ms Riley claims she did not step in and clarify what she meant in her tweet because of advice she had received on how to deal with Twitter backlash from the Centre for Countering Digital Hate.

Williams McCormick QC, for Ms Murray, said: “You could have just stepped in and said: ‘I can see that a disagreement is going on, this is what I meant’.”

"The advice is not to step in," Ms Riley said.

“If I were to do it, I would only be promoting something that I didn’t agree with.”

Ms Murray denies defaming Ms Riley, arguing truth, honest opinion and responsible publication in her tweet.

The case in front of Mr Justice Nicklin continues.