JK Rowling has never been a fan of Theresa May (see: this warning she sent the Prime Minister over President Donald Trump earlier this year), but, after a heated general election, the Harry Potter author has stepped in to defend May from misogynist critics.

Read more: Sexist? Veteran BBC reporter apologises over Theresa May remark

Following news that May intends to form a minority government with the controversial Democratic Unionist Party, a shocking number of people – particularly men professing to be ‘liberals’ – took to Twitter to hurl insults, stooping to use terms such as “whore”, “bitch”, and “c***”.

Others even issued threats of violence and rape.

And JK Rowling has now, in an impassioned 14-part Twitter post, called each and every last one of these people out for what they are: abusive assholes, regardless of the political party they support.

“I’m sick of ‘liberal’ men whose mask slips every time a woman displeases them, who reach immediately for crude and humiliating words associated with femaleness, act like old-school misogynists and then preen themselves as though they’ve been brave,” wrote Rowling, who revealed she had unfollowed someone she’d previously admired.

“When you do this, Mr Liberal Cool Guy, you ally yourself, wittingly or not, with the men who send women violent pornographic images and rape threats, who try by every means possible to intimidate women out of politics and public spaces, both real and digital.”

Read more: What does the election upset mean for Brexit?

The writer continued powerfully: “‘C***’, ‘whore’ and, naturally, rape. We’re too ugly to rape, or we need raping, or we need raping and killing.

“Every woman I know who has dared express an opinion publically has endured this kind of abuse at least once, rooted in an apparent determination to humiliate or intimidate her on the basis that she is female.”

Rowling finished by saying: “If your immediate response to a woman who displeases you is to call her a synonym for her vulva, or compare her to a prostitute, then drop the pretence and own it: you’re not a liberal. 

“You’re a few short steps away from some guy hiding behind a cartoon frog.”

You can read her full Twitter thread below:

Elsewhere, Nick Robinson, one of the BBC’s most respected political commentators, apologised after making an observation on live TV about Theresa May being “heavily made up, as if she might have been in tears earlier”.

The offhand remark during rolling coverage of the snap general election on BBC News last week drew accusations of sexism from some.

“Sorry if I offended some by talking about May’s thick make-up but politics is about the personal and emotional not just stats and charts,” the reporter said on Twitter.

Images: Rex Features