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The newborn daughter of a British MP was the target of “utterly depraved” and sexist online abuse hours after her birth, her father has told the Guardian.
The independent MP Adnan Hussain, who won his Blackburn seat in 2024 running on a pro-Gaza stance, said he and his newborn were subject to “vile” abuse after he posted a pixelated picture of her on X.
Hussain, who became a father for the first time with the recent birth of his daughter, said he wanted to speak out about the abuse to which they had been subjected to highlight the “very dark abyss of hatred and despair” which he said was becoming increasingly common in the UK and required “a force just as strong” to combat it.
“Day by day, the atmosphere around us is darkening, be that online or out on the streets, and maybe even workplaces,” he said, pointing to recent stories of people being harassed and attacked on racial grounds, including a rape in the West Midlands which police are treating as racially motivated. “The hatred those in positions of leadership and power are allowing to fester and go unchecked is having very real, very dangerous, real-world consequences.”
Hussain, part of the Jeremy Corbyn-aligned Independent Alliance MPs, said he had posted the picture of his newborn on the platform after taking steps to protect her identity “out of sheer excitement and happiness [at] becoming a father for the first time” and wanting to share his happiness with wider associates and his constituents. On Facebook the post received only messages of support and goodwill, including many messages from people with opposite political views.
On X there were also many messages of support, but then racist and Islamophobic comments began to multiply, said Hussain.
Posters began questioning Hussain’s Britishness, and said his daughter should be deported alongside him to their “ancestral homeland”.
“These comments are absolutely racist, and should by no means be tolerated, but they came as no great shock,” he said.
When he looked again at the post in the morning and said his “stomach dropped”, as more comments had been posted which were of “the most vile nature, centred around a gendered racism and Islamophobia”.
He added: “The utterly depraved, completely warped and hateful comments directed at my daughter, were not something I’ve ever experienced before, or could have imagined experiencing.”
Hussain deleted the post immediately, writing on X: “Yesterday I became a father. I shared a photo of my newborn daughter, and many of you sent beautiful messages. Thank you. But I’ve had to delete it. The vile racism and hate directed at an innocent soul less than a day old was beyond depraved.”
The MP says the “naivety” of becoming a new parent had left him ill-prepared for the level of abuse. “It goes without saying that had I imagined the outcome, I’d never have posted,” he said. Hussain added that he hoped many of the most hateful comments had been created by bots, automated computer programs that can mimic human behaviour and language, but said there were numerous comments. “Someone is behind them, and we must question their motives, and the motives of those who own these platforms and who allow hatred to fester unchecked,” he said.
The experience has left him bruised, but strengthened his resolve to call out racism, he added. “There are forces, very strong forces, adamant on leading society down a very dark abyss of hatred and despair,” he said. “I believe a force just as strong, just as determined should hit back, and say enough, we will not allow this.”
