Hostilities have been renewed between satirist Armando Iannucci and Westcountry MP Ben Bradshaw, with the politician claiming hair – or lack thereof – is at the root of their disagreement.
Mr Iannucci, the comic behind the celebrated political comedy The Thick of It, aimed a dig at the former Labour Cabinet minister over his use of social media website, Twitter.
In an interview with film and music magazine Uncut, Mr Iannucci lists the Exeter MP among real-life politicians he takes issue with.
"There's a Labour guy called Ben Bradshaw, who's very, very loyalist Labour," he said. "I think he's MP for Exeter and all his tweets are very dull: 'Congratulations to the people of Exeter for another fine display of road-management skills. No traffic accidents today in Exeter.' Which strikes me as the wrong use of social media."
Mr Iannucci, also the driving force behind The Thick of It film spin-off In The Loop and US political comedy series Veep, has previously noted Mr Bradshaw boasts "amazing hair" – but that "I'm always suspicious of politicians who have any hair".
Mr Bradshaw yesterday hit back at the balding comedy writer and director, and pointed out the tweet cited was fictional.
He told the Western Morning News: "He has had a go at me before because of my hair, probably because he's folically challenged. It's also probably because I've been rude about The Thick of It."
He went on: "I would never tweet anything as dull as that. A recent report of MPs on Twitter found that I was number 28 in terms of the number of people that followed me, and one of the highest for a backbencher.
"I have found people in Exeter like my tweets about news and what is going on locally, rather than what is going on in the Westminster village – which seems to be his speciality."
The Exeter MP has more than 21,000 "followers" on Twitter, which advocates in politics argue allows users to communicate directly with voters and constituents.
Mr Iannucci also criticised Conservative Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles.
He told the magazine: "Why Eric Pickles? As local government minister, he has presided over the biggest slashing and burning of local government – and seems to be enjoying it. With each round of cuts he seems to actively encourage George Osborne to cut even more."
