Former Labour MP Clare Short has recalled the "giggling sneering MPs" she faced in the 1980s while campaigning against The Sun's Page 3 topless feature.

 

Ms Short said she had been among those who had believed the reports that the tradition had been axed, after the red-top tabloid gave the semi-nude images a three week break from the publication.

The Sun showed an image of a topless model on the page on Friday, but featured a woman wearing a bra in the edition on Sunday.

She told Radio 4's Broadcasting House that she first went to the House of Commons in 1983, where there were racks of papers, and she said she was "struck by these pictures and how inappropriate they are in newspapers" and how "degrading they are to everybody".

She recalled how she stood up and slammed a "crudely drawn" bill that would outlaw depictions of violence and sex which she said could have made medical textbooks, reporting of wars, and sex education materials illegal.

She told the radio programme that she got up and said: "This is dangerous and silly but if we want to do something about degrading images of women and bringing down the dignity of human sexuality we could carve these pictures out of the newspapers. They don't belong there."

Ms Short said she faced "giggling sneering MPs" when, in campaigning against pornographic images in the press, she introduced a private members bill, at a time when the chamber was "still very, very male", adding: "If you mentioned cervical cancer they'd giggle. It has improved a bit since then I think."

She said she received thousands of letters from people supporting her.

"It was very moving and very powerful," she said.

Meanwhile, this week saw the return of the topless feature after a few days, and its return was both applauded and condemned.

MP Stella Creasy tweeted: ''So Sun going back to doing #page3? bit like drunken letchy uncle at a wedding who doesn't get the message. Makes everyone uncomfortable..''