BBC Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg has been given bodyguards at the Labour Party conference after receiving abuse from Jeremy Corbyn’s supporters.
Kuenssberg, who was raised in Glasgow, has in the past been subject to a string of claims of bias from the Labour leader’s supporters.
The Sun on Sunday reported that the BBC had insisted she must have personal protection both inside and outside of a security cordon thrown around the four-day event in Brighton.
The newspaper quoted an insider as saying: “We take the safety of our staff extremely seriously. Laura is a well-known public figure.
“She and her team will be covering events with big crowds where there can be hostility, so we want to ensure adequate precautions are taken.”
Ms Kuenssberg, 40, has been targeted by an online left-wing hate mob and was booed during a televised question and answer session.
Spectator columnist and former Telegraph editor Charles Moore had earlier this year revealed she had been given security protection after she riled Labour - and Tory supporters.
Mr Moore wrote in the magazine: “Early int he campaign, Juenssberg was assailed by Labour supporters. But later on, and in the post-election recriminations, it was Conservative supporters who were the more annoyed with heer. Perhaps this is simply explained by the fact that Labour did better than expected and the Tories did worse.”
He wrote the governing part was priately irritated that the BBC had not reported that Kuenssberg was ‘so baadly threatened online by Corbyn supporters that she was given personal protection.’ He added that that it had Tory supporters, they felt the BBC would have ‘made a meal of it.’ It is thought the animosity dates back to Ms Kuenssberg’s reporting of the failed plot to oust Mr Corbyn as leader in the wake of the Brexit vote in June last year.
She suffered further abuse after the party polled badly in the local elections.
A BBC spokesman declined to comment about its security issues.
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