‘Scum-sucking’ tweet embarrasses Labour whip
By politics.co.uk staff
Labour whip David Wright’s apparent Twitter jibe against the “scum-sucking” Conservatives has prompted reciprocal Tory attacks against Labour’s “gutter language”.
Mr Wright claimed his account had been “tinkered with” after he tweeted: “you can put lipstick on a scum-sucking pig but it is still a scum-sucking pig”.
The Telford MP was referring to US president Barack Obama’s controversial 2008 comment to the same effect – minus the “scum-sucking” – which was widely inferred to have been a reference to the Republican vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin.
“What I think has happened is someone has tinkered with that and made it more offensive,” Mr Wright later told the BBC.
“I try to use Twitter to engage with people. Someone has messed with my account. I find that very frustrating.”
Conservative party chairman Eric Pickles went on the offensive after the incident, however.
“This is exactly the sort of politics that voters are so sick of,” he said.
“All one of Gordon Brown’s ministers can provide… is gutter language. This falls way short of what you’d expect of a minister of the crown.”
