Labour MP slams party over pig poster

A Labour MP who represents one of London's biggest Jewish communities has attacked his party's poster designs that portray Michael Howard as a flying pig and "Fagin" figure.

Andrew Dismore called the posters "puerile" and " offensive". He protested to Labour election chief Alan Milburn in a private meeting.

The Hendon MP revealed his anger in a letter to constituents who deluged him with complaints about the images of Tory leader Mr Howard, which have been branded anti-Semitic.

"I was personally very uncomfortable with them when I saw them," he writes. "In my opinion the designs did display a lack of sensitivity and awareness that they could cause offence. I do not believe there was malicious intent, just a rather puerile desire to be humorous."

His protest emerged as the row continued to embarrass Labour. Its former spin chief Alastair Campbell caused more turmoil by sending an email to the BBC telling reporters to "f*** off you t***s" when the Newsnight programme investigated the posters affair.

Mr Campbell has admitted coining the idea for one poster, which depicted Mr Howard and shadow chancellor Oliver Letwin, who are both Jewish, as flying pigs. He is also rumoured to have been involved in the second design, showing Mr Howard as a Fagin-like hypnotist.

In Mr Dismore's letter, seen by the Standard, the MP says he first saw the posters after returning from the commemorations at Auschwitz to mark the 60th anniversary of the Nazi death camp's liberation.

"One of the effects was to upset a significant number of people, not just in my constituency," he writes. "This is clearly not the first time an advertising campaign was in dubious taste and, with the benefit of hindsight, offensive."