Entertainment

Labour peer Joan Bakewell thinks Theresa May's skirts are 'a bit short'

The veteran broadcaster also opened up about rife sexism in the TV industry when she started her career.
The veteran broadcaster also opened up about rife sexism in the TV industry when she started her career. The veteran broadcaster also opened up about rife sexism in the TV industry when she started her career.

Dame Joan Bakewell has aired her concerns over the length of Theresa May’s skirts.

The Labour peer, 84, called the Prime Minister a “capable woman”, before adding: “I think her skirts are a bit short”, in an interview with the Radio Times.

She told the magazine: “Please don’t make a thing of that.”

Joan Bakewell speaking at a Labour event
Joan Bakewell speaking at a Labour event
Joan Bakewell (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Speaking about her early career, the veteran broadcaster called sexism in the TV industry a “way of life”.

She added: “There was no man who didn’t leer, or think of it.

“It was the tenor of the times, which is why, strangely enough, no-one bothered with Jimmy Savile. He was just a strange man. There were plenty of them around.

“The mood was that there was nothing very offensive about it. As someone who was quite pretty in those days, you got stroked and pinched everywhere, and in a way, the thing was not to let it matter.”