Nick Clegg Has Perfect Response To 'Sexist' Daily Mail Reshuffle Coverage

Nick Clegg Has Perfect Response To 'Sexist' Daily Mail Reshuffle Coverage
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Nick Clegg has won the internet for the day.

For once, the deputy prime minister has come out of a negative situation triumphantly, presenting the perfect response to the Daily Mail's much derided "sexist" reshuffle coverage.

The tabloid has faced fierce criticism over its "heinously sexist" coverage, in which Catherine Ostler gave her "style verdict" on the new female appointments.

Mocking the Mail's article, the Lib Dem leader tweeted his own fashion choice for sashaying up and down the Downing Street catwalk, and was actually funny.

Fellow Twitter users were quick to highlight that Clegg's tweet could be misinterpreted without context:

In its much-criticised two-page spread, the Mail critically examined the new Employment Minister's "don't mess with me" lipstick and "turbo-charged hair", along with Environment Secretary Liz Truss's "patriotic" red, white and blue ensemble and Claire Perry's wedges and "statement necklace".

It is unknown what the tabloid would make of the deputy prime minister's get up.

Former deputy prime minister John Prescott also speculated what the result would be if the same style of coverage was given to male politicians:

But "thigh-flashing" Esther McVey has revealed she isn't fussed about the Mail's fashion critique of the new "girls" on the Downing Street "catwalk," even though the paper's own Business Correspondent branded the coverage "unspeakably awful and demeaning."

The Mail's Quentin Letts has defended the paper's coverage on Sky News, arguing with Eleanor Mills, the Editorial Director of The Sunday Times, who branded the reporting "retrogressive for women."

Letts insisted that the Cabinet reshuffle "focused very strongly on image over ideology… image was very much the driver," he said.

The columnist even resorted to playground name-calling in the fierce debate with The Sunday Times reporter, asking Mills, "remind me how the Sunday Times' circulation is doing again?"

But Becky Barrow - who is departing the Mail to go to the Sunday Times - slammed her own paper's coverage:

Many others responded with fury to the "belittling" style of reporting, branding it "everyday sexism" and accusing the paper of setting "female politics back years":

Considering the demographic of the Mail, others queried why its readership is predominantly female.