Members of Parliament get into all sorts of trouble for their online blunders, from Neil Parish’s tractor porn saga to Ed Balls accidentally tweeting out “Ed Balls” when he was trying to look himself up (Ed Balls Day is now an annual tradition). Now a Tory MP has come under fire for posting “thirst traps” to his Instagram. A thirst trap is generally defined as a picture shared on social media designed to attract sexual attention.
Ben Everitt, MP for Milton Keynes, was ticked off for the above picture during an argument about nuclear waste. Everitt had accused Labour councillor Peter Marland of a “scaremongering campaign” over plans to store nuclear waste in Milton Keynes.
Marland hit back and told Everitt he should “put his shirt on and stop taking thirst trap pictures”. In fairness, Everitt’s sunbathing snaps have been well received by other Labour politicos. “Are they advertising for Baywatch again?” Labour MP Christian Wakeford commented on the Instagram post. It’s nice to see some occasional bipartisanship.
Other commenters slightly ruined the David Hasselhoff vibe. “Want to be careful with all that sh*t in the water,” one person wrote. “Wouldn’t swim in there, water is disgusting,” added another. Everitt posted the pics after a swim in his constituency’s river, which is regularly contaminated with raw sewage.
Despite the backlash, Everitt appears remorse free. "I make no apology about keeping fighting fit for the people of Milton Keynes," he told The Sun. "The only trap here is Labour's claptrap about nuclear waste,” he added. Boom.
