text: Battleground: Esther McVey, who won her Wirral West seat in 2010 with a majority of just 2,436, has demanded that Ed Miliband condemns the attacks . Tory minister Esther McVey has called on Ed Miliband to condemn the ‘scurrilous’ campaign against her after she was branded ‘murderer McVey’ in graffiti. The employment minister also had an election song written about her by  rivals claiming she was going to hell. Miss McVey has been one of the party’s most prominent rising stars, but is the Tory Cabinet minister most at risk of becoming a casualty on election night with a fierce battle to cling on to her marginal Wirral West seat. Yesterday the former GMTV presenter, who won in 2010 with a majority of just 2,436, insisted that she would not be cowered by the ‘misogynistic and sexist’ attacks that she said showed what the Labour party really thinks of women. ‘If they think by coming in the dead of the night and scribbling on a wall and by being anonymous on Twitter that they will intimidate and bully me they are picking on the wrong person,’ she said. ‘I believe it is right that we have a Conservative MP up here who is sitting at the table at Cabinet, so their underhand tactics won’t bully and intimidate me.’ Miss McVey, who was given a job in the Cabinet by David Cameron last July, said that she is one of a number of women sat around the table who knows how to have her voice heard and shows the party is not solely made up of women in ‘twin-sets and pearls’. She also revealed how the network of female Tory ministers, including Home Secretary Theresa May, support each other with text messages, phone calls and by taking each other out for drinks. Miss McVey, who is the only Conservative MP on Merseyside, said her political opponents are trying to create ‘an atmosphere of fear’ in her seat. Local trade union activists launched their ‘Sack Esther McVey’ campaign last year on her birthday and a song with the same name has been recorded and posted on the internet. The vile lyrics claim that Miss McVey ‘torments the sick and poor’, ‘is going to hell’ and that ‘the wicked witch of the Wirral’s had her day’. Last year Labour MP John McDonnell joked that her constituents want to ‘lynch the b*****d’ and last week John Prescott accused her of being ‘heartless’. At a Labour rally in her constituency, the former Labour deputy prime minister claimed to forget her name and said he only remembered her because of the dress she wore into Downing Street when she was promoted. The job centre in Hoylake, at the centre of her constituency, was also targeted with graffiti at the end of last month that read: ‘McVey murderer.’ Miss McVey said: ‘Of course it’s hurtful, not just to me, but more so sometimes for your family and friends. ‘I have to say, John Prescott has never been good with words. He doesn’t know my name and he has shown he knows a big fat zero about me as well. ‘I am totally driven by my heart and my head. You cannot give away what you have not got, but you have got to have the right motives. I wouldn’t believe in social mobility if I didn’t have a heart.’ Message: Graffiti on Wirral job centre accusing MP Esther McVey of being a murderer in one of a number of attacks . Defiant: The former GMTV presenter, pictured yesterday with Northern Ireland secretary Theresa Villiers, right, and her campaign team spoke out about being targeted in offensive graffiti and songs . Miss McVey said that despite the personal attacks she is not afraid to go out canvassing by herself. She said: ‘Oh yeah of course I do. I live here. I walk down here. I go canvassing by myself all the time. ‘They’re trying to paint a very ugly picture and trying to create an atmosphere of fear, but that is not the case. The people of Wirral West are not like that.’ She added: ‘The attacks have been misogynistic and sexist and I find it rather mystifying how the Labour party purports to be a party for a woman and yet have run this scurrilous campaign against me and at no time has it been condemned by Ed Miliband. ‘I think this myth that they’re for women is only a myth and the reality is the campaign they have run against me shows what they truly think about women.’ Miss McVey, who was one of only five ministers to make it onto the front page of the Conservative manifesto alongside Mr Cameron, hit back at suggestions she was only there as a ‘token woman’. She said: ‘I believe I was there because as minister for employment we have seen a record number of jobs created in the economy, two million jobs.’ After earlier this year revealing her ambition to one day become prime minister, Miss McVey said she hopes that another woman will become Tory leader in her lifetime. She said: ‘Every time requires a different leader and hopefully in our lifetimes there will be time when another woman is needed as leader.’ As she hosted a women business leaders event in her constituency yesterday alongside Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers and Lords Leader Baroness Stowell, Miss McVey talked about the support she has received from other women in the Cabinet behind the scenes. She also denied that the Tory party is predominantly made up of women in twin-sets and pearls. ‘No. For me I have never have thought that because the Tory women I knew were not like that,’ she said. ‘The Tory women in this room are just people running a business, looking after a family, there is not anybody here in twin-set and pearls, they are just regular people who understand you cannot spend what you have not got.’ Support: Miss McVey was flanked by Ms Villiers and and felow Tory Grant Shapps on the campaign trail yesterday . Asked if it was easy being only one of only a few women in Cabinet, she said: ‘You have got to look at it from both sides of the table, we might be in lesser numbers but sometimes that can make you more visible and your points more pertinent too. ‘I’m the sort of person who doesn’t look at what could be the difficulties and “oh say I give up”. Look at the difficulties, rise to the challenge and make sure your voice is being heard.’ Miss McVey said that the female Tory ministers exchange text messages, phone calls and go out for drinks together. She said: ‘Of course you are busy doing what you do but there is a support behind the scenes. ‘People like Justine Greening will say “let’s go out for a drink”. ‘Theresa May was chairman of the party when I came in. She was very good at giving the realities of the job, what were the expectations, what support can you have, is there anything else you need to know. ‘Obviously there are phone calls that you have with one another – “how do you deal with that?”, “what do you do?”, “what would your advice be on this?”. ‘There’s personal support and professional support and Theresa May has given both.’ Miss McVey said that she was pleased to see Nicola Sturgeon, Natalie Bennett and Leanne Wood representing their parties in the televised leaders debates even though she disagrees with them politically. She said: ‘Obviously their policies aside, for women to get to the top of their profession, that’s what I have fought for all of my life, I think that’s fantastic.’ Tory chairman Grant Shapps, who also visited Miss McVey’s seat yesterday, condemned the campaign against her. He said: ‘I think it’s completely unacceptable and it has to stop. I call on the Labour leadership locally and nationally to reign it in because it is not the sort of civilised debate we should be having.’ Last year the Labour Party said Mr McDonell’s comment did ‘not represent the views of the Labour Party’, but refused to withdraw the whip from him. The local Labour Party has condemned the ‘murder McVey’ graffiti and said it was the council leader who reported the vandalism and ordered its immediate removal.
target: Esther McVey will not be cowered by 'misogynistic and sexist' attacks .
  Minister target of offensive graffiti and called 'wicked witch of the Wirral'
  She said of rivals: 'Their underhand tactics won’t bully and intimidate me’
  Her Wirral West seat is key battleground between Labour and Tories .