A rooky Labour MP has been left RED-faced over an email ridiculing a complaint from a voter over an explicit "cartoon porn" sex education film.
Wirral South MP Alison McGovern moved swiftly to apologise for the "puerile" comment by a worker in her constituency office, named only as "Jay".
The e-mail storm blew-up after worried parent Chris Power sought to enlist Ms McGovern's support for a campaign to ban the Channel 4 film "How babies are Made".
Mr Power, 41, believes footage in the film is unsuitable for younger children and wants it banned from being shown in primary schools.
He called on Ms McGovern to support his campaign by pressing Schools Secretary Michael Gove to take action.
But Mr Power was "shocked" and "outraged" by the email he received in reply from Ms McGovern's Labour Party office in Heswall, Merseyside.
The author "Jay" forwarded to message to Ms McGovern - but accidentally copied-in Mr Power to the message containing the "puerile" comment.
The email sent to Ms McGovern in parliament advised her that she needed to respond to Mr Power's complaint in what would be an "awfully uncomfortable discussion".
He suggested that the reader should "stop giggling at the back" and reply sooner rather than later.
Mr Power and his wife had scored a victory in getting the C4 cartoon toned down in their area and aim to enlist Ms McGovern in their campaign to have the material scrapped.
After Mr Power alerted journalists to the gaff after he received an apologetic phone call from "Jay".
An outraged Mr Power said: "I had no idea what he was talking about until I turned on the computer and saw it.
"When we read what he was saying we were both shocked and I started to choke-up.
"We have tried our best to protest against the important issue of sex education in schools and have contacted Ms McGovern on many occasions over the last four weeks.
"I hadn't received anything back until today and even then it was an email I wasn't supposed to see.
"There is a time and a place for joking around, but this is a serious issue and what message does it send out when those who are supposed to represent us have such a disregard for the opinions of electors.
"It is a sad comment on our society that this is how an MP treats her constituents."
Ms McGovern said that she would be disciplining the party worker for his email error.
She said: "It is a puerile comment that should not have been made.
"Although it was clearly sent by mistake, I will be looking at the situation and speaking with him personally.
"I have tried to get in touch with Mr Power to send my personal apologies."
When asked to comment on his "mistake", party worker Jay said that he had apologised profusely for any offence caused to Mr Power over the email.
MrsB, Sussex around 1 year, 7 months ago