--- title: Daily Mail Legs-It Cover: Theresa May, Nicola Sturgeon React description: Find out how Theresa May and Nicola Sturgeon responded to a 'Daily Mail' cover that focused on their legs. canonical: https://time.com/4717022/theresa-may-nicola-sturgeon-respond-daily-mail-legsit/ author: Samantha Cooney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-29T18:50:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:05:18.025Z og:title: Theresa May and Nicola Sturgeon Respond to Newspaper's ‘Legs-It’ Cover og:description: ‘You will notice that I am wearing trousers today' og:url: https://time.com/4717022/theresa-may-nicola-sturgeon-respond-daily-mail-legsit/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf7a36fde4c73127d/6988c0180b72e330e66ed1aa/theresa-may-nicola-sturgeon-legs.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Theresa May Visits Scotland Ahead Of Triggering Article 50 Later This Week og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Theresa May and Nicola Sturgeon Respond to Newspaper's ‘Legs-It’ Cover twitter:description: ‘You will notice that I am wearing trousers today' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf7a36fde4c73127d/6988c0180b72e330e66ed1aa/theresa-may-nicola-sturgeon-legs.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Theresa May and Nicola Sturgeon Respond to Newspaper's ‘Legs-It’ Cover  by [Samantha Cooney](https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/)  ## Samantha Cooney Mar 29, 2017 6:50 PM UTC  GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - MARCH 27: British Prime Minister Theresa May meets with Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at the Crown Plaza Hotel on March 27, 2017 in Glasgow, Scotland. The Prime Minister is in Scotland ahead of the triggering of Article 50 later in the week. (Photo by Russell Cheyne - WPA Pool/Getty Images) GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - MARCH 27: British Prime Minister Theresa May meets with Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at the Crown Plaza Hotel on March 27, 2017 in Glasgow, Scotland. The Prime Minister is in Scotland ahead of the triggering of Article 50 later in the week. (Photo by Russell Cheyne - WPA Pool/Getty Images)WPA Pool—Getty Images  by [Samantha Cooney](https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/)  ## Samantha Cooney Mar 29, 2017 6:50 PM UTC U.K. Prime Minister [Theresa May](http://motto.time.com/4636428/theresa-may-us-vogue/) and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon are speaking out about a [widely-criticized _Daily Mail_ cover](http://motto.time.com/4714516/daily-mail-theresa-may-nicola-sturgeon-sexism/) that focused on their legs. On Tuesday, the U.K. tabloid published a picture of May and Sturgeon from [a meeting](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/mar/27/nicola-sturgeon-says-theresa-may-brexit-timescale-matches-referendum-plan) about their disagreements over Brexit on Monday. _The Daily Mail_ captioned the image “Never mind Brexit, who won Legs-it!” British lawmakers and others [condemned](http://motto.time.com/4714516/daily-mail-theresa-may-nicola-sturgeon-sexism/) the cover as “sexist” on social media. (In [a statement](https://twitter.com/hendopolis/status/846699772782235648?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref%5Furl=http%3A%2F%2Fmotto.time.com%2F4714516%2Fdaily-mail-theresa-may-nicola-sturgeon-sexism%2F), the _Daily Mail_ told critics to “get a life” and noted that it has commented on the physical appearance of male politicians in the past.) > [](https://twitter.com/hendopolis/status/846470664278196225) May, who [triggered](http://time.com/4699743/brexit-theresa-may-questions-unanswered/?xid=homepage) Article 50 on Tuesday to initiate negotiations for Britain to leave the European Union, [told](http://www.expressandstar.com/news/politics/2017/03/28/theresa-may-plays-down-daily-mail-sexism-row-over-legs-it-headline/) the Wolverhampton _Express and Star_ that she was used to the [scrutiny](http://motto.time.com/4492831/theresa-may-leopard-print-heels/) over her clothing choices by now. “You will notice that I am wearing trousers today,” she said. “As a woman in politics throughout my whole career I have found that very often, what I wear — particularly my shoes — has been an issue that has been looked at rather closely by people … I think that most people concentrate on what we do as politicians. But if people want to have a bit of fun about how we dress, then so be it.” A spokesperson for Sturgeon had a stronger statement about the cover. “Brexit may risk taking Britain back to the early 1970s, but there is no need for coverage of events to lead the way,” the statement read, [according to the _Guardian_.](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/mar/28/theresa-may-refuses-to-comment-on-daily-mail-legs-it-front-page) \[H/T [Politico](http://www.politico.eu/blogs/on-media/2017/03/theresa-may-says-legs-it-sexism-spat-just-a-bit-of-fun/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4717022/theresa-may-nicola-sturgeon-respond-daily-mail-legsit/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4717022/theresa-may-nicola-sturgeon-respond-daily-mail-legsit/"},"headline":"Theresa May and Nicola Sturgeon Respond to Newspaper's ‘Legs-It’ Cover","datePublished":"2017-03-29T18:50:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:05:18.025Z","description":"‘You will notice that I am wearing trousers today'","url":"https://time.com/4717022/theresa-may-nicola-sturgeon-respond-daily-mail-legsit/","keywords":["motto","sexism","Brexit","Theresa May"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf7a36fde4c73127d/6988c0180b72e330e66ed1aa/theresa-may-nicola-sturgeon-legs.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Cooney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf7a36fde4c73127d/6988c0180b72e330e66ed1aa/theresa-may-nicola-sturgeon-legs.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Theresa May Visits Scotland Ahead Of Triggering Article 50 Later This Week","caption":"Theresa May Visits Scotland Ahead Of Triggering Article 50 Later This Week","creditText":"WPA Pool—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4717022/theresa-may-nicola-sturgeon-respond-daily-mail-legsit/","name":"Theresa May and Nicola Sturgeon Respond to Newspaper's ‘Legs-It’ Cover"}}]}] ```