A Congressman has risked alienating half of his electorate by holding a men-only event where the guests were asked to tell their female partners not to wait up so that they could drink into the night and discuss policy while imagining themselves to be medieval warrior kings.
A fundraiser invitation sent out by supporters of Steve Southerland, a Florida Republican up for re-election in November, read: “Good men sitting around discussing and solving political and social problems over fine food and drink date back to the 12th century with King Arthur’s Round Table.”
The invitation, published by the BuzzFeed website, went on to give an assurance that only a “small group of concerned men” would attend, to prevent women spoiling a night of fine whisky and cigars.
Mr Southerland’s Democratic opponent, Gwen Graham, called the event offensive.