Lichfield’s MP says he is “genuinely sorry” after coming under fire for posting an offensive tweet.
Michael Fabricant has since deleted the post, which depicted London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s head on an inflatable pig engaged in a sex act with another inflatable pig in front of an image of Donald Trump.
But he has come under criticism from Labour MPs as well as Conservative peer Baroness Warsi who said the tweet was evidence there was a “widespread” issue within the party.
Mr Fabricant admitted the picture was “vile” and said he had not fully checked the image before posting it to the social network.
“As soon as I saw what it was, I deleted it,” he said. “I had been on TV saying that I though the [Trump] blimp was hypocritical and when someone sent me the pic on my iPhone I thought it was a flying pig humping the Trump blimp.
“I did not see the detail on my small iPhone. I stupidly tweeted it in a meeting without checking it properly and hadn’t spotted there was a face on it.
“I am genuinely sorry if it caused anyone offence and I am disappointed in the person who sent it to me in the first place.”
It’s not the first time Mr Fabricant has faced criticism for his social media posts.
In May, he came under fire for branding a teenage Burntwood resident “a complete twat”, later saying he had not realised the offensive nature of the term.
And in 2014 he apologised after suggesting he would end up punching a female journalist in the throat if he appeared on TV with her – a comment the Conservatives said was “completely unacceptable”.
