Nicola Sturgeon has denied claims she cut the hair off her sister’s Barbie doll as a girl claiming it was actually a Sindy she scalped.
The First Minister weighed into what became known as “dollgate” yesterday as the bizarre tale took on a life of its own on social media.
It all began when the Conservative-supporting English edition of the Sun newspaper reported that Sturgeon “devilishly” hacked the hair from her sister, Gillian’s, Barbie doll.
This, the newspaper’s editorial suggested, demonstrated “an early sign of the ruthlessness that has propelled her to the top”.
It's true… I've never been the same since @NicolaSturgeon got her hands on me #dollgate pic.twitter.com/cmdCHtMVk0
— Barbie Sturgeon (@sturgeon_barbie) April 25, 2015
Supporters and opponents alike couldn’t take the childhood misdemeanour as seriously.
Sturgeon herself tweeted: “For the record, I think my sister is misremembering. I’m sure it was a Sindy doll.”
After another tweeter cheekily asked “How could you?” Sturgeon found time to reply: “I’m not proud of it, but I’ve changed.”
Scottish Labour’s deputy leader Kezia Dugdale took up the joke. She tweeted: “There must be a full judge-led inquiry into #dollgate.”
The dollgate hashtag attracted pictures of dollies holding up placards pleading for rescue from Sturgeon’s scissors.
Aberdeen MSP Mark McDonald quipped he was a model sibling as a child, which explained why he was only a backbencher and a tweet claimed John Swinney’s career would be over if people knew he crashed a Scalextric car as a kid.
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