A Bradford-born MP at the centre of a hunt for topless photos in the city has said she posed as a teenager in order to “get out of poverty”.

Gloria de Piero revealed a news agency had offered “several thousand pounds” to the owner of a mystery Bradford building in return for opening its doors.

The Labour MP for Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, urged the agency to “call off the hunt” for the photos, which were taken when she was only 15-years-old.

And, in an emotional interview, Miss de Piero urged newspapers to “leave my mum and dad alone”. Her parents are believed to still live in Bradford.

Asked about the photos, the 40-year-old told the BBC: “There are reasons why I thought they might be a way out for me. But I hope they are not published, because I would feel very embarrassed about it “There’s nothing I can do about it, but as long as people leave my mum and dad alone, because they are not in public life.”

Miss de Piero – formerly a TV correspondent with GMTV – grew up in Wibsey and was educated at Yorkshire Martyrs Catholic College and then Bradford College.

Remembering her youth and her decision to pose topless, she told Women’s Hour: “It says something about poverty, growing up in poverty.

“I’ve got an amazing mum and dad, but – after the age of about ten – no-one worked in my household due to my father’s ill-health.

“Sometimes we had ‘wear your own clothes to school’ day – not your school uniform. I never went to school on those days because I didn’t feel I had the right clothes. I wanted some money, like my friends.”

The interview followed Miss de Piero’s decision to reveal the hunt for the photos on her blog, where she wrote: “The offer was made to the owner of a building in Bradford.

“I understand that he was offered money for access to the building and a further payment if the pictures were found.”

Miss de Piero was appointed Labour’s equalities spokeswoman last week. She said she objects to The Sun’s ‘Page 3’, but has “sympathy” for the working-class women who pose.