Thatcher 'no regrets over golliwog jibe'

Carol Thatcher has said that she has no regrets over using the word "golliwog" to describe French-Congolese tennis star Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

The broadcaster was dropped from The One Show after she made the off-air comments during a green room conversation on the programme in February.

When asked on the Andrew Marr Show on BBC One yesterday if she regretted the comment, Thatcher said: "No, because I used it in a context which wasn't appreciated at the time.

"My store of golliwog fridge magnets has actually now gone up because people have sent them to me."

She added: "The point about the mail I had was this thing about today's obsession with political correctness.

"I think that still remains a topic that has to be really addressed and some common sense injected into it."

Former Labour leader Neil Kinnock said: "I did not think that somebody like you Carol, who I only know from a distance, would consciously or even unconsciously use such a word now.

"Not because of this overworked term 'political correctness', but merely out of courtesy, common humanity. I really was surprised by it."

Thatcher responded: "Sorry to shock you Lord Kinnock."