Dulux dog insult sparks outcry

York Council’s former Liberal Democrat leader, Steve Galloway, posted a picture of Labour’s deputy leader, Tracey Simpson-Laing, next to a photo of an Old English Sheepdog in an online attack on the cost of webcasts for meetings.

The blog sparked an outcry, with ex-Conservative MP Louise Mensch posting on Twitter: “The Liberal Democrats. The nasty party.”

Mr Galloway compared the webcast with watching paint dry, and claimed Dulux had offered to sponsor future live feeds. But he maintained the decision to include a picture of Councillor Simpson-Laing, who has distinctive curly hair, next to an Old English Sheepdog was “purely co-incidental”.

Coun Simpson-Laing said: “We’re always happy to have robust debate ... but this supposed joke did seem unnecessarily personal.”