The Green Party has fired an activist in North West England because he posted a cartoon picture of a girl in a short skirt – and was consequently branded ‘sexist’ by Labour.
Stephen Delahunty, who described himself as a ‘press co-ordinator’ posted the picture on his personal twitter profile and was quickly attacked by Labour Councillor Rachael O’Byrne the Liverpool Echo reports.
“Is that cartoon depicting an ‘upshot’ of a woman’s skirt, @vagrantoptimist” she tweeted, adding, “What a representative you have” to the Green candidate Martin Dobson in Liverpool’s Riverside constituency.
Instead of defending a member of his campaign team, Mr Dobson insisted Delahunty was a volunteer, saying “He is not working for me anymore”.
Liverpool Green party activist Stephen Delahunty posted this image on his Twitter account
Delahunty responded to the Labour councillor, tweeting, “haha yawn. Do labour lack a sense of humour as well as an ideological spine these days?”
It is not the first picture which has caused a collective attack of the vapours amongst the left. He has previously posted a picture of himself holding two large firearms with the remark “Gunbelievable #holidaying #guns #cambodia”
The Green Party deleted the picture, with the candidate later taking to social media to say, “the real press co-ordinator apologises fully for @vagrantoptimist‘s sexist & offensive tweets last night. Sorry”.
The agent for the Labour candidate in the same constituency said the images were “offensive and anti-Liverpool”.
The cartoon featured the city’s famous Liver Building in the background.
Cllr Nick Small said it “beggars belief” that the party did not know that “the individual working for them in a senior capacity in this campaign was involved in this. At the very least it has been remiss of them for not having done their research – a simple Google search would have revealed these images.”
Mr Dobson bowed to pressure from Labour, saying that some of the images on his campaigner’s account were “offensive”.
“His comments about the images were made in a personal capacity and were not endorsed or supported by the Green Party in any way,” he said.
“I agree with critics that the images are sexist, and offensive and deeply regret the offence they have caused.
“These images have been removed and Stephen will no longer be working on my social media platforms.
“As the Green Party candidate for Liverpool Riverside I apologise unreservedly and wholeheartedly to councillors Anne O’Byrne, Rachael O Byrne, Michelle Corrigan, Patrick Hurley , Malcolm Kennedy, and Hetty Wood. I also apologise to anyone else who was offended by the online content that came from Stephen’s personal twitter account yesterday.
“We do not support behaviour that demeans women or glamorises weapons, and will ensure checks and balances are put in place to prevent such incidences occurring in the future.”
Mr Delahunty also apologised, saying: “I am no longer working for the Green Party.”
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