|
||||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
| NEWS | By RICHARD OSLEY |
|
|
LABOUR councillors hit back at Tory rivals this week over a blunder which saw a council newsletter darken two white models to make them appear they were from an ethnic minority. At Monday’s full council meeting, Camden leader Councillor Dame Jane Roberts locked horns with Tory leader Piers Wauchope over his response to the gaffe, printed in this month’s edition of mail out Camden Living. After Cllr Wauchope spent the weekend making television appearances and briefing journalists, Cllr Roberts told Monday’s meeting: “Piers is gloriously predictable. He talked in the papers, not so much courting them but gloating.” Speaking to the Tory leader, she added: “You misled the press. The real story is that we immediately went out and talked to the Commission for Racial Equality, we put our hands up. But you wilfully distorted the position and you should be ashamed of yourself because the real story is to improve the take-up of foster carers.” The image, which features a man clutching a young child, was doctored to fit in with Camden’s drive to attract foster and adopter parents from black and ethnic minority communities. An apology was issued last week when the error was realised and before the council had received any complaints. But the bungle – dubbed the ‘great crayon cock-up’ by some Town Hall staff – attracted the attention of newspapers and television who picked up on it after it was revealed in the New Journal. “All the copies of Camden Living, which was supposed to be hard-edged journalism, should be pulped,” Cllr Wauchope said. |
|
