Northumberland MP Anne-Marie Trevelyan has apologised after sending a WhatsApp message mocking China's connection to the Covid-19 coronavirus.
The message was sent to Conservative MPs - but one of them was so outraged that they passed it on to the media.
Mrs Trevelyan, the International Development Secretary and Tory MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed, sent a photograph showing a Chinese fortune cookie containing a piece of paper with the words: "You not have coronavirus."
The paper also had a cartoon of a stereotype of a Chinese face.
And the photograph contained a caption which read: "Just received my COVID-19 rapid test kit from CHINA. So relieved! Thanks Beijing!"
The image was forwarded by Mrs Trevelyan, suggesting she did not create it but had previously received it from someone else.
Mrs Trevelyan sent it to a WhatsApp group which was discussing concerns that China is exploiting the coronavirus pandemic.
But one MP sent a screenshot to the Sunday Mirror, saying: “This should cost the minister her job. It’s an appalling example of old-fashioned stereotypes.”
The first British Chinese woman MP, Labour ’s Sarah Owen, said: "If Anne-Marie Trevelyan doesn’t understand why this sort of humour was left in the 1970s, I would be happy to explain it to her.
“In recent weeks we’ve seen East Asians spat at, beaten up, verbally attacked and had their businesses targeted.”
Mrs Trevelyan has now apologised.
She told ChronicleLive: "It was not my intent to cause any offence, and I am truly sorry if I did so."
The message was addressed to Bob Seely, the MP campaigning against Chinese tech giant Huawei supplying 5G network kit.
He told the Sunday Mirror: “It was a well-meaning joke at my expense and I didn’t think anything of it.”
