Tories stand by candidate who said those on Benefits Street needed ‘putting down’

O’Brien, who was selected in the South Wales constituency of Gower, was due to attend a meeting with senior Welsh Tory figures after apologising for the series of inflammatory remarks on social media.

But a Tory source said it was unlikely she would be deselected from the race ahead of the general election.

Lord Davies of Gower, who was MP for Gower between 2015 and 2017, said on Monday: “The comments were inadvisable, obviously, but made in the heat of the moment watching a television programme.

“But I don’t condone it in any shape or form.

“However, this is a dredging exercise on the part of the Labour Party whose candidate in the Gower doesn’t want to talk about Brexit.”

Coffey told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the social media comments were “clearly wrong”, but said the question of whether O’Brien should remain as a Tory candidate would be for constituents.

Coffey said: “I think that will be a decision for the people of Gower to make the choice on who they want to be their next member of parliament.”

O’Brien’s Facebook post said: “Benefit Street.. anyone else watching this?? Wow, these people are unreal!!!”

Replying to a friend’s comment, she added: “My blood is boiling, these people need putting down.”

O’Brien and her team chose to temporarily pause campaigning after the since-deleted remarks from January 2014 were first reported by the Guardian.

In a statement she said: “These comments were made off the cuff, a number of years ago.

“However, I accept that my use of language was unacceptable and I would like to apologise for any upset I have caused.”

Labour’s Tonia Antoniazzi won the seat in 2017 with 22,727 votes, 3,269 ahead of the Conservative candidate.