A former Tory minister has been criticised after he mocked a woman’s skin colour on Twitter.
Brendan Clarke-Smith accused Lauren Howells of being “orange with rage” over a tweet she did poking fun at a government whip.
Howells, who is a Labour activist, posted a picture of herself on Christmas Day holding a card from Jill Morrissey MP.
She said: “Just found this on the shelf in boyfriend’s family home. Christmas ruined.”
Clarke-Smith, the MP for Bassetlaw since 2019, retweeted it this morning saying: “Orange with rage.”
His post sparked an angry backlash in which he was accused of “misogyny”.
Howells replied to the MP by pointing out that he had got the colour of her make up wrong.
Also it’s not orange it’s aHollywood glow
— Lauren (@laurenhowellss) December 26, 2022
Clarke-Smith was briefly a minister earlier this year under Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.
In September, he was ridiculed on BBC Question Time after defending the government’s position on fracking – but adding he would not support drilling for shale gas in his constituency.
HuffPost UK has approached him for a comment about his tweet.
