Carol Vorderman has hit out at the former Conservative mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey over his “sexist” comments about her Instagram posts.
Bailey said on GB News last week that Vorderman could not be a “serious political commentator” as well as post photos of herself at the gym.
“Look, on one hand she’s got all that stuff, you know, she’s a serious political commentator, and then if you look at her Instagram it’s all pictures of her bum and her boobs. So what is it here? She can’t be both,” said Bailey.
Vorderman on Wednesday called Bailey a misogynist and pointed to his attendance at the 2020 “Jingle and Mingle” Christmas party, which she said made him a rule maker who had broken the Covid rules. “‘Can’t have it both [ways],’ he says,” Vorderman posted on X.
“So Shaun thinks that women who wear Lycra in the gym shouldn’t be allowed a political opinion … or I assume a vote!” Vorderman said. “Failed mayoral candidate #SexistShaun was made a lord last year. Yet another Tory honour for dishonour.”
Bailey, who received his peerage from Boris Johnson, was on GB News to defend Johnny Mercer, the minister of veterans’ affairs, who had lashed out at Vorderman and his Labour election rival, Fred Thomas, for sharing figures revealing a rise in homelessness among armed forces veterans.
After her response to Bailey’s comments, Vorderman received widespread support on social media. Among her supporters was the journalist Ava Evans.
Last year, GB News suspended Laurence Fox after his on-air comments about Evans.
Evans said: “It’s so easy to use your interview time to go for someone’s arguments, yet he can’t help himself but go for her body.”
Bailey lost his bid for mayor against Sadiq Khan in 2021.
He responded on Thursday to Vorderman’s posts by calling his comments “clumsy” but not apologising.
“In a recent panel discussion, I used a clumsy form of words to describe Carol Vorderman’s Instagram posts,” Bailey said. “The point I was trying to make is Carol lives in a world of glitz and celebrity, as her Instagram portrays, but simultaneously demonises and bullies those who hold different political views to her own. I strongly support free speech. I don’t support bullying.”