Bristol student disciplined for telling MP to “get in the sea”

A fiery UOB student has received national attention and been disciplined by the university for telling Labour MP Thangam Debbonaire to “get in the sea” on Twitter.

Thangam, the MP for Bristol West, reacted badly to the tweet sent by Verity Phillips on the 15th July and said:

“This person has just told me to drown – I believe that is a threat to kill.”

She added in another tweet that she expected Bristol University to deal with it.

“Get in the sea” is a humorous insult used most frequently by the British youth to highlight perceived stupidity and has been popularised by the comedy writer Andy Dawson.

Ms Debonnair has said that she was totally unaware of the phrase and added that “My friend Jo Cox was killed doing our job. It’s not funny to me.”

A spokesman for the University of Bristol said: “As soon as we became aware of the tweet, we contacted Thangam’s office to discuss the matter and apologise for the distress caused.

“We expect the highest standards of behaviour from our students, whether on University premises or elsewhere.”

“As such we have written to the student in accordance with the University’s disciplinary procedures to explain that we considered the tweet unacceptable and to remind them of their responsibilities when using social media.”

The student has since written to Thangam to apologise personally for her actions.