Stalking and abusive texts left me terrified - Stafford Labour candidate says she felt threatened for her moderate views

Kate Godfrey, who stood unsuccessfully in Stafford, took to Twitter with her allegations in the wake of leftwinger Jeremy Corbyn's decision to appoint only men to the top posts in his shadow cabinet following his election as Labour leader.

Although the shadow cabinet is now more than 50 per cent women, Mr Corbyn has been criticised because the leader, shadow chancellor, shadow home secretary and shadow foreign secretary are all men.

Miss Godfrey, aged 35, told of feeling 'terrified' because she feared being followed to her car after public meetings – although not after constituency meetings in Stafford – by people who disapproved of her moderate views.

She wrote on Twitter: "My experience of the hard left: constant obscenity, being told they are stockpiling rat poison and Photoshopped pictures."

The poison was a reference to alleged abuse on Twitter earlier this year where Miss Godfrey says she was referred to as a 'rat'. When hard leftwingers had talked of trying to get her replaced as a candidate, one person allegedly 'wrote of stockpiling rat poison', Miss Godfrey said.

She said there had been a Labour party investigation into her claims, which began last year.

Miss Godfrey stressed, however, that she remained fully supportive of Labour and that members of her constituency party in Stafford had been supportive of her.

In one tweet she wrote: "I'm single, weigh eight stone five and was terrified to walk to my car at night in case I was followed yet again. Fun times on the left.

"I cried, once, having been followed to five meetings in three days. On the local GMB (trade union) organiser. A lovely man, much more typical of Labour."

Speaking to the Express & Star Miss Godfrey, who now lives in Derbyshire and intends to become a barrister, said: "I don't think people have any idea how hard it is as a woman to develop a political career.

"I had great support in the Labour party but it's a difficult thing to do." The incidents of being followed to her car did not happen after Labour meetings, she said, but would occur after other public events she had attended in her capacity as candidate.

Usually it would mean Miss Godfrey being 'shouted at' by someone who felt the party should be taking a more left wing view, she said.

"We're talking big blokes who were quite unrestrained and I had to say 'stop shouting at me'."

And it would continue after she got home.

"My phone would ring and there would be no-one at the other end."

She said she was sent a 'photograph of my head on pornography' and had received text messages accusing her of getting her position as candidate by 'sleeping with people in the constituency Labour party', which was untrue.

But Miss Godfrey declined to name names, adding: "The messages were from numbers I had stored in my phone. I knew who was doing it."

She added: "I must say that the Labour party was incredibly supportive. I learned a huge amount in my time as candidate."

The former candidate also expressed her dismay at the decision of Mr Corbyn to appoint men to the roles shadowing the great offices of state.

"I would have liked to have seen a woman as shadow chancellor.

"We have some very bright women in the party, not just those who stood for the leadership like Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall but others like Emily Thornberry," she said.

"Health and education are hugely important roles and are now filled by women but they are not looking after the economy."

The West Midlands Labour party said: "The Labour party takes all allegations of bullying and intimidation extremely seriously."

Mr Corbyn's shadow cabinet contains 31 members, 16 of whom are women.

This compares with 11 women in Ed Miliband's shadow cabinet of 27. Across the Commons as a whole, just 29 per cent are women.