A row has erupted over a picture of TV journalist Stacey Dooley cuddling a child in Uganda that was posted by Dooley on social media whilst she was preparing for the next Comic Relief event there.

Dooley has been accused by Labour MP David Lammy of being a “white saviour”, a sarcastic term used to describe white people who help poor non-white people in a self-serving way. Comic Relief has also received criticism that it “parachutes celebrities into some of the poorest corners on Earth so that they can burnish their reputations as saviours” and that “many young Africans despair when they see famous Westerners using their nation’s problems to polish up their own image”.

The Uganda High Commissioner, Peter Moto said that he “felt uncomfortable” with the pictures of Dooley with a child appearing on social media, well-known as a medium for personal aggrandisement that some feel cheapens and trivialises any message.