A senior MSP has apologised after being caught describing a female audience member as “attractive” and having “that Filipino look” at a Holyrood committee.
Former Labour minister Frank McAveety’s unguarded comments were picked up by microphone as he convened Holyrood’s public petitions committee.
McAveety, turning to the committee clerk, said: “There’s a very attractive girl in the second row. Dark and dusky.”
He went on: “She’s very attractive looking. Nice – very nice. The heat’s getting to me.
“She’s got that Filipino look, you know. The kind you would see in a Gauguin painting.”
A Labour Party spokesman said: “Mr McAveety is very sorry for any offence caused by his remarks.”
The spokesman then told The JT, "Given  Frank's reputation as a salad-intolerant buffet slayer, all we can say is thank Christ it was just a woman. If it'd been a pie and beans, Frank would've shagged it on the spot."