John Laws insists female staff wear short skirts

Controversial veteran talkback radio broadcast John Laws shocked viewers on The Project last night when he told Steve Price that he still insists the women in his office wear short skirts with bare legs, refusing to cave to the pressure of “political correctness.” 

He claimed that his skirt policy was a move to protect freedom of speech, which he believes is endangered by political correctness, and somehow managed to bring people’s weight into the conversation at the same time. 

“Political correctness can totally annul freedom of speech,” he said.

“I don’t care if I get in trouble.

“Freedom of speech is very, very important. And all this nonsense you can’t say somebody is fat … if they’re fat, they’re fat for Christ’s sake.”

The sexist attitude is shocking, but perhaps unsurprising for Laws, 81, who has built his reputation and successful radio career on being confronting and making waves.

“He who pays the piper calls the tune,” he told Price. 

“I just love women, it’s been one of my great downfalls in life.

“I love to talk to them, I’d much rather talk to them than a bunch of blokes and I love them to look feminine.

“And to me a skirt on a beautiful body is a very, very feminine thing.”

The cringeworthy comments prompted a torrent of angry women – and more modern men – to take to Twitter, labelling Laws a “creep”, a “dirty old man”, and “disgusting” among other unpleasant descriptions. 

Laws also said in the interview that “as long as people still like [his] bad behaviour, [he’ll] keep being badly behaved,” and aims to work right up until his death.