Labour MP Alex Cunningham has issued an apology after saying that Gordon Brown was right to called Rochdale Labour-voter Gillian Duffy as a “bigot” during the 2010 election campaign.

The Stockton North MP resurfaced the issue at a fundraising event earlier this month where he said of Duffy:

“She was a bigoted woman and that’s all there is to it.”

After his remarks were published in the press he has issued an apology, saying that he was “deeply sorry” about the incident and that he would write Duffy a personal apology.

A life-long Labour supporter, Duffy confronted Gordon brown about Labour’s policy on immigration during the 2010 election campaign. Brown was polite in his response to her face, but was later recorded describing her as a “bigoted woman” after leaving the microphone on in his car.