Magazines hunting topless pictures of a Labour MP were today accused of committing a “quasi-sexual or moralistic assault”.
Former Tory MP Louise Mensch spoke out in support of shadow equalities minister Gloria de Piero who posed for the photographs when she was 15.
Ms Mensch, who has openly admitted to drinking and drug-taking when she worked for a record label, said voters accepted that MPs need not have a “squeaky clean” past and praised Ms De Piero for condemning the media hunt for the pictures.
“Women in particular, I think, will be cheered by her refusal to be cowed by this quasi-sexual or moralistic assault on her behaviour as a 15-year-old girl,” said Ms Mensch, the former Corby MP.
Ms Mensch said nobody should publish images of a 15-year-old and warned: “It would be a humiliation to whoever publishes them and not to her.
“She has nothing to be ashamed of for whatever she chose to do at 15 years old. People should respect her privacy, but if they were to come out, I think most people other than Gloria would say, ‘Who gives a damn?’, and it would only draw attention to her courageous and dignified reaction to the threat.”
Ms De Piero yesterday called on the media to “call off the hunt” for the pictures.
