Veteran Labour MP Austin Mitchell Sparks Outcry with Sexist Attack on Louise Mensch

A veteran left-wing politician has sparked Twitter outrage with a sexist message aimed at former Conservative MP Louise Mensch.

Labour MP Austin Mitchell accused the 41-year-old mother of three, who resigned as member for Corby in August, of being untruthful on why she quit Parliament. He tweeted:

Shut up Menschkin.A good wife doesn't disagree with her master in public and a good little girl doesn't lie about why shequit politics

— Austin Mitchell(@AVMitchell2010) October 29, 2012

In the aftermath of his tweet, Mitchell, 78, faced calls to say sorry for his choice of words. Mensch demanded 'repudiation.'

It's not irony, @avmitchell2010. It's base and loathsome sexism and nastiness at its worst. Apologise. And let's have your leader repudiate — Louise Mensch (@LouiseMensch) October 29, 2012

But Mitchell resisted calls to apologise. He insisted it had been an elaborate joke by him.

Calm down dears.Irony may be a low form of wit but it's clearly above my level.And yours.So my wife has banned me from tweeting today

— Austin Mitchell(@AVMitchell2010) October 29, 2012

Mitchell, who has been member of parliament for Great Grimsby since 1977, was bombarded with criticism for his tweet - including from members of his party. Prospective Labour candidate Christine Quigley took him to task for his words, saying:

@avmitchell2010 Austin, that's absolutely disgraceful coming from a Labour MP. You should be ashamed. — Christine Quigley (@c_quigley) October 29, 2012

@avmitchell2010 Really Austin? Just do the decent thing and apologise. Your sexist remark is giving Tories an excuse to attack Labour.

— Christine Quigley (@c_quigley) October 29, 2012