UPDATED 10.48am: David Cunliffe's wife has apologised for an anonymous Twitter account she used to attack her husband's opponents.

Karen Price has issued a statement, saying she set up the @TarnBabe67 account at the weekend after a period of intense media attention and scrutiny of her family.

She says she deeply regrets the comments she made on the account - including attacking journalists and her husband's caucus colleagues, including Clayton Cosgrove and Trevor Mallard.

Price says David Cunliffe had "absolutely no knowledge of the account".

Cosgrove hits back

Clayton Cosgrove is hitting back at barbed tweets, alleged to have come from David Cunliffe's wife.

The account believed to have belonged to Karen Price, took aim at Mr Cunliffe's rivals and critics in the leadership battle.

One tweet said Trevor Mallard and Mr Cosgrove were long past their use-by dates and that the jealousy of Cosgrove and Mallard knew no bounds.

"No, I'm not jealous of Mr Cunliffe. I'm certainly not jealous of a 24 percent election result, which is the worst result the Labour Party's had since 1922."

Mr Cosgrove says if his partner opened a Twitter account to attack caucus colleagues, he'd know about it.

"It's very sad that David Cunliffe would use his wife to attack caucus colleagues.

"There are a set of unwritten standing orders in political life, that you don't bring families or partners into debates and politics."

FULL STATEMENT FROM KAREN PRICE

“After a period of intense media attention and scrutiny of our family, I set up and used an anonymous Twitter account over the weekend and made a number of comments that I deeply regret. 
 
“Our family has been under intense media pressure since the election. My actions were ill-judged and were the result of extreme frustration and trying to look after my husband and family.
 
“David had absolutely no knowledge of the account until a media outlet raised it with him on Tuesday night.
 
“The account is now closed and I apologise to all those I have offended in any way. I will be taking a short break and will not be commenting further.”