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A tweet describing a senior North East Labour politician as “looking positively girlish” has been described as sexist.

Newcastle Lib Dem Robin Ashby caused a storm when he commented online about Newcastle North MP Catherine McKinnell, saying: “Our MP and Shadow Attorney General Catherine McKinnell looking positively girlish in Parliament yesterday.”

The newly-appointed Shadow Cabinet Minister and Newcastle North MP branded the comment “extremely strange” and hit back online using the hastag ‘#everydaysexism’.

Coun Ashby, who was tweeting using the @Parklands_Ward account, for the city’s Lib Dems in the Parklands ward, insists he made the remark because he has spotted the MP skipping with one of her three children.

He has since seen the MP and attempted to apologise, but added he is “disappointed” to be branded sexist.

Mrs McKinnell said comments about appearance put women off taking roles in public life.

She said: “That there isn’t a single woman Lib Dem MP perhaps goes some way towards explaining this extremely strange comment.

“The sad fact is that women are still woefully under represented in Parliament and public life, and comments like this - which focus on a woman’s appearance in a way that men are rarely subjected to - only puts more women off.”

Coun Ashby said he likes skip sometimes and the remark was entirely innocent.

He said: “I attended the Houses of Parliament earlier this week and happened to smile at the sight of Catherine McKinnell skipping happily along the corridors of power with her young daughter. As someone who himself enjoys skipping with grand-daughters when opportunites allow, I thought this was nice to see and happened to tweet about it.

“I subsequently bumped into Catherine McKinnell yesterday on the Metro at South Gosforth, explained the context of my tweet, and offered to apologise if it had been misinterpreted as it was intended as a good-natured observation.

“She was gracious and gave me the impression she had not taken any offence.

“I am therefore somewhat disappointed to learn of subsequent allegations of sexism, but am happy to repeat my offer to apologise for any misinterpretation of what was intended to be a good natured remark.”