UNDER fire MP Ian Austin has gone on the offensive in a row over his heckling of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

During a House of Commons debate on the Chilcot report into the Iraq war The Dudley North MP told Mr Corbyn to “sit down and shut up” as his boss spoke to criticise military action that toppled Saddam Hussain.

Twitter became a battleground for the combative MP in the wake of his intervention with a flurry of messages complaining about Mr Austin's behaviour.

Journalist Owen Jones tweeted MPs who heckled were beneath any shame while SNP MP Gavin Newlands described Mr Austin as “thuggish.”

Mr Austin hit back, in a tweet he branded Owen Jones a sanctimonious hypocrite and a bully.

In an article for The Times Mr Austin says the Chilcot report found no falsification of documents or any attempt to deceive cabinet members.

He added the report also concluded there was no secret pact between George W Bush and Tony Blair to start a war.

Mr Austin then turns his guns on the embattled Labour leader. He said: “None of this will make the slightest bit of difference to Jeremy and the hard left.

“The facts make no difference at all because he is implacably opposed to the UK or other western countries ever taking military action. He has never supported Western military intervention in all his political life.

“He opposes every attempt to use British forces – not just in Syria and Iraq, but even Kosovo where the UK intervened to prevent thousands being slaughtered.

“He blames the West for Putin’s aggression in Ukraine and wants a closer relationship with Russia when we should be hitting them with tougher sanctions.

“Thirty years in protest movements and meetings where everyone agrees with him mean Jeremy has never had to think about complex problems and difficult solutions, which is why he is struggling to lead a mainstream political party, let alone persuade people to see him as their Prime Minister.”