Footballer Joey Barton has apologised after claiming Ukip's European election victory made them the best of "four really ugly girls" on the BBC's Question Time.
The controversial QPR midfielder, 31, who has one cap for England, made the comment in a heated exchange with new Ukip MEP Louise Bours on last night's show.
Dismissing Ukip's euro election win as a protest vote he told her: "All you represent to me as Ukip is the best of a bad bunch.
"So if I am somewhere and there were four really ugly girls I'm thinking 'well, she's not the worst', because that is all you are, that is all you are to us."
After nervous gasps and laughter from the audience at Heathrow's Terminal 2 building, Ms Bours, a new MEP for the north west, accused Barton of "ignorance" and having his "brains in his feet".
An audience member later confronted Barton about his remark. saying: "I was with you in some of the things you said (but) I think the analogy you made of four ugly girls, that's going to be on Twitter tonight and tomorrow, you'll be buried for it."
Barton replied: "I do apologise - I couldn't think of a better one, this is the first time I have ever done it (Question Time).
"As Louise rightly pointed out my brains are in my feet, which is an equally offensive statement.
"Maybe I was a little bit nervous, I apologise."
Afterwards Barton took to Twitter, telling fellow panellist, former News of the World editor Piers Morgan: "I may have upset one or two women with an ill conceived metaphor. #imnewtothis."
He later added: "Should have left it at 'Best of a bad bunch' Ah well #imnewtothis @bbcquestiontime."
Barton, who was called "football's philosopher king" at the start of the show, is well known for holding court on political issues on Twitter. But he has a checkered history on and off the football pitch.
In 2004 he was fined six weeks' wages by then-club Manchester City after he stubbed a lit cigar in the eye of young team-mate Jamie Tandy during a Christmas party.
In 2007 he received a suspended jail sentence and was given a 12-match ban for a training ground altercation with team-mate Ousmane Dabo, which left him needing hospital treatment.
The following year he was jailed for six months for common assault and affray after a late-night attack on a man in his native Liverpool.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article