Minister who called Blackpool 'godawful' sorry over 'clueless and offensive' comments

A Tory minister has apologised after describing Blackpool as a “godawful” place. The town's council leader has blasted Heather Wheeler's comments as “ignorant” and “ill-advised”.

The Conservative MP for South Derbyshire made the comments during a launch event for the government’s new digital strategy on Thursday, saying: “I was just at a conference in Blackpool or Birmingham or somewhere godawful.” Ms Wheeler, who is a parliamentary secretary at the Cabinet Office, later apologised and said she made an “inappropriate remark that does not reflect my actual view”.

Labour politicians have voiced their criticism of Ms Wheeler’s comments, with deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner saying: “It’s frankly embarrassing that she’s still in her position as a minister.” Shadow levelling up secretary Lisa Nandy tweeted: “What an absolute shower. They tell us they’re levelling up the country but this is what they truly think. They can’t even tell the difference between ‘Blackpool or Birmingham or somewhere godawful’. Clueless and offensive.”

READ MORE: Boris Johnson's right to buy shake-up means low earners can now use housing benefits to pay mortgages

Labour councillor Lynn Williams, leader of Blackpool town council, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that Ms Wheeler’s words were “frustrating”, adding that the town was "used to getting (these) sort of ignorant and ill-advised comments".

She said: “It makes me quite cross that, you know, particularly in this instance we held the Tory spring conference back in March of this year, which was incredibly successful, at our state-of-the art conference centre. Blackpool’s seen the biggest increase in footfall for the last two years. We’re doing something right, people love Blackpool. Maybe she