Daily Mail shifts focus to the legs of leadership

Readers shocked by framing of important political meetup as a body-based competition

LONDON— Britain’s prime minister and Scotland’s leader met on Monday to discuss the most consequential of questions: Will Britain’s departure from the European Union cause Scotland — joined with England since 1707 — to leave the United Kingdom?

But for the Daily Mail, one of Britain’s most popular newspapers, the question that mattered was: Which leader had better legs?

“Never mind Brexit, who won Legsit!” its cover on Tuesday blared.

Many readers were immediately appalled that the encounter between Theresa May, the prime minister, and Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister of Scotland, had been reduced to a comparison of their bodies. By Tuesday afternoon, at least one complaint had been filed with Britain’s press regulator.

“This is 2017,” Chuka Umunna, a Labour lawmaker, wrote on Twitter. “Sexist does not begin to describe this front page.”

Scottish lawmakers voted Tuesday to seek a new referendum on independence, to be held within the next two years.

The Edinburgh-based legislature voted 69-59 to back Sturgeon’s call to ask the British government for an independence vote.

JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES Britain’s Daily Mail faced backlash Tuesday for a front page focusing on the legs of British PM Theresa May and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.