AN AWARD-winning first aid campaign flustered a north Kent MP this week, when he took offence to its hard hitting note.

St John Ambulance used five images showing actors as corpses, to demonstrate scenarios where lives could have been saved by simple first aid.

But Dartford MP Gareth Johnson labelled one image as “distasteful in the extreme and arguably illegal.”

In a statement released on Wednesday January 26, Mr Johnson said: “Political lobbying should know that there is a line of decency that should not be crossed and I intend to raise this matter in the House of Commons tomorrow.

“St John’s Ambulance is a well-respected organisation and this has done it a disservice.”

The image, portraying a young girl called Abigail, was attached to a request to attend a reception by St John Ambulance county president Kathrin Smallwood.

Vanessa Hannan, CEO of St John Ambulance, Kent, said: “We were all taken by surprise by Gareth Johnson’s response as the campaign has been extremely successful and made people appreciate how vital St John Ambulance is.

“We’ve never had such a successful campaign before - we’ve had so many people wanting information on how to get life saving skills.”

After finding out that the image was part of a wider campaign, Mr Johnson told News Shopper: “Having discovered that it’s an actress I’m unlikely to raise it in the House of Commons, I don’t want to cause any further problems.

“I’m not in any way criticising the organisation, they are excellent and work hard.”