A Labour Parliamentary candidate has been forced to apologise to Witham’s MP after being accused of trolling her on Twitter.

Former teacher and university lecturer John Clarke, who has been chosen by the Labour party to contest the Witham seat in the upcoming General Election, e-mailed Priti Patel last week after she complained about his behaviour to Ed Miliband.

The treasury minister complained to Mr Miliband three weeks ago after Mr Clarke sent her a string of demeaning tweets but she has yet to receive a reply.

She was also concerned about what was printed about her in the Labour newsletter.

Mr Clarke, who is currently chairman of Black Notley Parish Council, a school governor at White Notley Church of England Primary School and vice chair of Witham Branch Labour Party, has previously described Ms Patel as a “village idiot” and a “sexy Bond villain” on Twitter.

Last week, Mr Clarke, who lives in Black Notley, emailed Ms Patel to say: "I would like to apologise to you for any offence caused and assure you that any inaccuracies will not be repeated."

Ms Patel said John Clarke was not fit to stand as an MP.

She said: “The comments made by the Labour Party’s candidate are disgusting and offensive.

“Constituents have reported to me how appalled they were to see the desperate lengths Labour are going in their leaflets with false, untrue and misleading statements about me. Alongside the smears on social media, people will conclude that the Labour candidate is unfit for public office.”

“Ed Miliband has known about his conduct for nearly three weeks and rather than take any action, the Labour Party leader has chosen to bury his head in the sand. Labour have yet to issue an apology of any substance and it reflects very badly on the Labour Party that they are prepared to endorse a candidate who makes false statements in election leaflets, sneers at job creating businesses and women entrepreneurs, and makes derogatory, misogynistic and racist remarks.”

“The General Election campaign should be about having strong and robust exchanges on how to improve the Witham constituency and make Britain a better place to live, but the Labour candidate has no interest in these matters and only wants to fight a negative, unpleasant campaign based on untruths and smears. I get on very well with many members of the Labour Party and Labour representatives, and they are also being let down by conduct like this.”