Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to London was summoned to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for a dressing-down yesterday after the state media in Harare issued what appeared to be a death threat against a British diplomat.

Gillian Dare, second secretary at the British Embassy, was accused of “blatant interference” in Zimbabwean politics by visiting injured members of the Opposition in hospital.

“It will be a pity for her family to welcome her at Heathrow airport in a body bag, like some of her colleagues from Iraq and Afghanistan,” wrote a columnist in The Herald, a state-owned daily paper.

The writer added that she “could be caught in cross-fire as she plays night nurse to arrested MDC hooligans”. The remark refered to repeated claims by official media that Ms Dare had visited members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change in hospital after they had been tortured by police. The British Embassy has dismissed the claims.

The column said that Ms Dare was “a prime target for deportation” by the Government. It also accused her of funding journalists who wrote articles opposed to the Government of President Mugabe.

Sir Peter Ricketts, the Permanent Under Secretary of State at the Foreign Office, told Gabriel Machinga, the Zimbabwean envoy, that the threat made against Ms Dare was a cause for “very serious concern”.

“The direct and aggressive threats made in the Herald article against a member of our staff are shocking and absolutely unacceptable,” said an FCO spokeswoman. “She was pursuing entirely legitimate activities as a member of the embassy.”

Sir Peter said that Britain held the Zimbabwean authorities responsible for the protection of British diplomats and warned Mr Machinga that The Herald article could incite others to commit violence against British diplomats.

Local journalists said that they had never previously heard of David Samuriwo, who signed the article under the heading “Opinion & Analysis”. “We can only assume it was a pseudonym,” one said.

The attack is the latest in a stream of bizarre accusations, mostly against the British and American ambassadors, whom Mr Mugabe accuses of using the MDC as a tool to bring down his Government. “The Herald article is a perfect example, providing masses of misinformation, unsubstantiated claims and evident lies to support the Government’s message, that the MDC is a puppet of British interference,” said Andrew Moyse, co-ordinator of the independent Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe.

A few days after Morgan Tsvangirai, president of the MDC, and about 30 of his officials were assaulted on March 11, another Herald columnist rejoiced that “the MDC has descended . . . to being a misshapen lump of broken bones”.

Mr Mugabe has repeatedly asserted the right of police to “bash” opposition officials. Last week, after returning from a summit of southern African leaders in Tanzania, he said he had told them that Mr Tsvangirai “indeed was beaten up”.

Yesterday the Government produced a massive show of strength during the first of two days of a strike organised by the national labour movement in protest against economic mismanagement. Support for the strike was patchy and by late morning the centre of Harare was almost as active as it is on a normal weekday.

Last year Britain provided Zimbabwe with £40 million in bilateral aid. The FCO insisted that it did not fund the MDC. But it does give donations to human rights organisations.

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