‘Legs not go back to 70s’

Theresa May has played down a row over the Daily Mail’s front page picture of her and Nicola Sturgeon focusing on their legs.

The prime minister said she did not mind if “people want to have a bit of fun” about how she was dressed.

The newspaper faced accusations of sexism after publishing a front page picture of the prime minister and Scottish first minister under the headline “Who won Legs-it!”.

The Mail was condemned as “moronic” and accused of deterring girls from entering politics over its coverage of Monday’s meeting between the two women.

But the newspaper’s columnist Sarah Vine accused critics of having a “sense of humour failure”, while a Daily Mail spokesman hit out at its “po-faced” detractors.

Mrs May said: “If people want to have a bit of fun about how we dress, then so be it. As a woman in politics throughout my whole career I have found that very often, what I wear – particularly my shoes – has been an issue that has been looked at rather closely by people. Obviously what we do as politicians is what makes a difference to people’s lives. I think that most people concentrate on what we do as politicians.”

A spokesman for Ms Sturgeon said: “It is slightly surprising that when the first minister of Scotland and the prime minister of the UK meet to discuss the key issues of the UK’s departure from the EU and giving the people of Scotland a choice over their future that the main focus should be on their legs and what they are wearing.

“Brexit may risk taking Britain back to the early 1970s but there is no need for coverage of events to lead the way.”