- guardian.co.uk, Monday 13 March 2000 01.18 GMT
Frank Dobson yesterday said he told the party's image makers to "get stuffed" when they asked him to revert to the barefaced chic of his younger days to increase his appeal to voters in the mayoral election.
Thrusting out his bristles in defiance, the former health secretary told GMTV's Sunday programme with Alastair Stewart that the electorate should consider his policies rather than his facial furniture.
"I told them to get stuffed because, quite frankly, I'm not in the image business. With me, what you see is what you get. If you don't like what you see, don't vote for me but listen to what I've got to say."
Labour insiders later confirmed that Mr Dobson had been asked to lose his beard.
One source was reported as saying: "People were discussing that if Frank wins [the Labour nomination] do we need to change anything about the way he presents himself, and a few people said that he really needed to jazz himself up by shaving off his beard."
