LABOUR was accused of double standards after its new MP for Rochester and Strood apologised today for tweeting “I want these fucking Estonian retards out of my flat now” in 2009.

Lauren Edwards said: “I have recently been made aware of a small number of tweets that I posted on Twitter from over a decade ago, which I now deeply regret.

“They were a significant error of judgment on my part, and I apologise wholeheartedly.”

She did not directly cite which posts she meant, but apparent screenshots had been circulating online.

Labour’s national executive committee member Mish Rahman said he recalled “retard” being a key search word in the party’s parliamentary selection process.

A Momentum spokeswoman said: “This is another example of the double standards being used in the so-called due diligence process.

“It has long been clear that due diligence has not been used to ensure an objectively higher quality of candidate but rather to prevent independent voices from arriving at Parliament.”

Labour was contacted for comment.