An aide to Labour chairman Ian Lavery has apologised after saying Theresa May would look better “with a noose around her neck.”

Paul Robertson made the comment on Facebook over the weekend, but after it was discovered by MailOnline he apologised for the “inappropriate and offensive” post.

A spokesman for Labour said the comments “were completely unacceptable”, adding: “Ian Lavery has made that completely clear to the staff member.”

Tory deputy chairman James Cleverly told MailOnline: “These are disgusting comments from someone who works for the Chairman of the Labour Party.

“When Jeremy Corbyn was elected Labour leader, he promised a ‘kinder politics’. 

“Once again we see violent language towards Conservative women from the very top of the Labour Party, it shows they do not take that pledge seriously.

“Jeremy Corbyn should take immediate action to ensure those who do and say things which have no place in public life do not find a home within Labour.”

It is not the first time a Labour member has been criticised for comments about female politicians.

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has repeatedly refused to apologise for repeating a call that Tory MP Esther McVey should be lynched.

McDonnell made the comments in 2014, when he said some activists in Liverpool questioned why Labour weren’t supporting “lynching” McVey, when she was the then-Employment Minister.

McDonnell claims he was not endorsing the suggestion, but less than a year later went on to claim McVey was a “stain on humanity”.

His comments have been criticised across the political divide, with Labour’s Jess Phillips branding them “utterly despicable”, while Tory Cabinet Minister Andrea Leadsom described them as “truly evil” and “utterly disgusting.”