ALLIANCE health spokeswoman Paula Bradshaw has apologised after photographs emerged of her dressed up as black American actor Mr T.
The South Belfast MLA said the pictures were taken at a fancy dress party 10 years ago.
Mr T is best known for playing the character BA Baracus in the 1980s television series The A-Team.
Ms Bradshaw posted an apology on Twitter on Saturday, in which she described the costume, which featured a black skull cap wig, a gold chain and a drawn-on beard, as a "serious lapse of judgement".
The 47-year-old was pictured standing and sitting beside her husband Ian Parsley, a former Alliance Party European election candidate.
"For some time I have been deeply embarrassed I ever thought such an inappropriate costume was a good idea and I apologise for any offence caused," she tweeted.
"It was a serious lapse of judgement. It did not reflect my views then and does not reflect them now."
Ms Bradshaw is the latest in a long line of politicians to be embarrassed by fancy dress pictures from her past.
Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau was forced to apologise last year after photos emerged of him wearing brown make-up on his face at a costume party in 2001.
Ms Bradshaw, a former Ulster Conservatives and Unionists candidate, also made headlines in July after she cancelled a family holiday to Italy at short notice amid debate over Stormont guidelines which advised against all but essential foreign travel.
In 2010 the mother-of-two resigned her UUP membership, saying she couldn’t stay in a party which was “sexist, homophobic and sectarian”.
After joining Alliance, she was elected to Belfast City Council as a member for Balmoral, resigning her seat when she was elected to the assembly in 2016.
