BBC Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis has spoken out after being slammed for letting her sleeping pet pooch take up a train seat.
The journalist said she was a victim of “pet-shaming” after she was pictured this week with whippet Moody as she travelled on a Great Western train to London Paddington.
She was blasted by fellow passengers, who argued some commuters were unable to sit down as the dog was in the way.
But Maitlis, 48, has pointed out the same photo showed another commuter with their feet up on a seat – suggesting it wasn’t a packed train.
She wrote in the Sunday Times: “He has been photographed napping on the seat and I have been pet-shamed by an outraged passenger who clearly didn’t notice that the incriminating photo also contained the trainered feet of a passenger stretched out on the row behind us.”
Maitlis explained the dog, who has an injured leg, was originally “squeezed on the floor” as the train left Cornwall – but said he ended up on the seat when another passenger left at Reading.
She continued: “The dog jumps up into the seat next to me and instantly falls asleep. And that, dear reader, is where the story ends.
“Or should have done. The next day, however, I see the dog everywhere.”
The presenter came under fire on Monday when a passenger posted the image on Monday – claiming the dog “should have been on the floor” as it could have had “ticks or fleas”.
They told The Mirror: “For someone who is very much in the public eye, who holds politicians to account, I would have expected her to behave better.
“When I boarded the train it was really busy. A lady was looking for a seat and ended up sitting behind Emily and not on a seat with a table, where there is more room.
“Some people chose to stand, as there were few spare seats. It shows a lack of respect for other passengers to feel it appropriate for dogs to sit on seats meant for passengers.”
A spokesman from Great Western confirmed the company does allow people to bring animals on their trains but said they are never allowed on seats.
Maitlis last week hosted a chaotic live BBC debate with the then-Tory PM hopefuls – but was accused of being tougher on Boris Johnson than any of his rivals.
