Labour MP John Woodcock apologises after 'flippant' joke about paying for sex

A Labour MP has apologised after making a joke about paying for sexual services on Twitter.



In response to a comment about the cost of beer in London, John Woodcock said he had paid the same in his Barrow and Furness constituency – but that it “does come with a hand job”.

Mr Woodcock has since deleted the tweet and apologised, after fellow Labour MP and former shadow women and equalities minister Sarah Champion got in contact with him.

In response to BBC journalist Nina Warhurst remarking on the £12.60 cost of two pints of beer and a packet of crisps, Mr Woodcock said: “To be fair I’ve paid that much in Barrow, but it does come with a hand job.”

In a mea culpa posted on his account, he said he had not intended to appear “flippant” about the sex trade.

“Sarah Champion has been in touch and asked me to delete my response to Nina Warhurst last night about the price of beer. I respect Sarah’s views and have immediately done so,” he wrote.

“I had intended my tweet to be a throwaway and not very original joke about the steep prices in London bars, the equivalent of ‘It costs how much?! For that price I’d want it to make me a three-course dinner etc’.

“I should just have kept my lame sense of humour to myself anyway, but on reflection I definitely shouldn’t have made a casual reference to a sexual service which could have implied I was flippant about the damage done by the sex trade in the UK.

“I am sorry. I definitely did not mean to disrespect anyone.”