‘As you do’ Tory chief Ruth Davidson sparks sexism row after tweeting provocative picture

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Ruth Davidson sparked a sexism row on Twitter

Ms Davidson posted the image of the X-Files star in lingerie before she jetted off on holiday for two weeks.

Alongside the picture, the openly gay politician wrote: “Right, I’m off for a fortnight. In the mean time, here’s @GillianA just sitting round the house in stilettos & seamed stockings. As you do.”

SNP politicians were quick to condemn their Holyrood rival’s post, which has been liked more than 4,000 times.

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James Dornan, the SNP MSP for Glasgow Cathcart, called Ms Davidson an “eejit”.

Gillian Martin, the SNP MSP for Aberdeenshire East, asked if Ms Davidson’s constituency office was “like the inside of a 70s building site Portakabin with Page 3s cello-taped to the wall”.

There were users who suggested that if a man had uploaded the same picture it would have been deemed unacceptable.

One Twitter user replied: “Not questioning Gillian Anderson’s right to be photographed. However, imagine for a moment Alex Salmond or John Swinney etc had tweeted this.”

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Ms Davidson posted the image before she went off on holiday for two weeks

Another user responded: “If a male, straight politician did this, there’d be blood on the streets already.”

Other Twitter users were less critical. One user commented “You rock” whilst another replied “Oh it was just a joke. Don’t be so sour”.

There were also Twitter users who took the post as an opportunity to mock SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon.

One user said: “So glad it wasn’t a picture of @NicolaSturgeon just sitting round the house in stilettos & seamed stockings!”

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Nicola Sturgeon was also mocked after the image was posted

Another user replied: “Naughty but nice, yes Nicola wouldn’t improve my weekend one bit!”

The author Yvonne Ridley, who once herself sued The Islam Channel for sexual discrimination, said: “I just can’t believe the leader of a political party who wants to be taken seriously would be so demeaning to women.”

The tweet came less than a week after Ms Davidson publicly challenged the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to drop its opposition to gay marriage.

Last month, the Conservative politician said that she had received assurances over gay rights from the Prime Minister before the Tories agreed a deal with the DUP.