Carol Vorderman and Lord Shaun Bailey are locked in a fresh war of words as he accused her of "bullying" and she slammed his "pathetic" comments.
The row broke out after former London mayoral candidate Lord Bailey made comments on GB News about Vorderman's Instagram profile, saying: "It's all pictures of her bum and her boobs".
He went on to suggest one cannot be both a "serious political commentator" and an Instagrammer.Broadcaster and former Countdown star Vorderman branded Lord Bailey a "misogynist", and demanded an apology over his comments.
But while he admitted on Thursday his word choice had been "clumsy", he appeared to accuse Vorderman of "bullying".
"In a recent panel discussion, I used a clumsy form of words to describe Carol Vorderman’s Instagram posts," Lord Bailey said in his statement.
"The point I was trying to make is Carol lives in a world of glitz and celebrity, as her Instagram portrays, but simultaneously demonises and bullies those who hold different political views to her own.
"I strongly support free speech. I don’t support bullying."
Vorderman has since branded Lord Bailey's response "pathetic".
"This is not an apology, it's yet another excuse for appalling behaviour, followed by another attack on me," she told the BBC.
"Shaun Bailey didn't apologise for his role in the 'jingle and mingle' Partygate party until it was discovered by the press.
"He had to resign from two London Assembly Committees because of it. Johnson put him into the House of Lords. So he is a rule breaker and now a rule maker.
"In proper politics, using his form of words, he 'can't be both'.
"As for his new dog-whistle attack on me - the Tory party has bullied the public through their policies and mistruths for years.
"Certain elements of right wing media and TV have published offensive material about me since I had the 'temerity' to debate politics."
Lord Bailey was the Conservative candidate in the 2021 London mayoral election, when he lost out to Labour's Sadiq Khan who was re-elected.
He remained a London-wide Assembly (LA) Member.
But he resigned as chair of two LA committees in 2022 amid the 'partygate' saga, after it emerged he attended a party thrown by his campaign staff during lockdown in December 2020.
Despite this, he was controversially made Baron for Paddington last July, after being awarded a peerage in Boris Johnson's resignation honours list.
