A FOOD writer from Southend has accused popular comedian David Walliams' children's stories as "racist" and "fat shaming".

Jack Monroe took to Twitter to pick apart Mr Walliams' stories, believing his characters to be contentious.

Her claims have been disputed by Mr Walliams' publisher.

Mr Walliams' most recent story, "the Ice Monster", has just been released in audiobook format and was being promoted over social media yesterday.

As of November last year, the Little Britain star has sold more than £100 million worth of books.

Ms Monroe claimed Mr Walliams was "targeting the working class", recycling material from the controversial comedy show that made his name.

She wrote: "Small Boy completed his D*vid Walli*ms book collection today, so I finally decided to take a read of the latest. (It's important to note here I've not bought a single one.) It's like Little Britain for kids. 37m copies sold? Of this sneering classist fatshaming grim nonsense?'

"There's the black female teacher, Miss Tutelage, whose 'big frizzy hair' is a punchline. As is the school bully calling her 'Archbishop Desmond Tutu'. 

"Which seems verbose for a character who was just saying 'WOT?' and being kept back many school years for being 'thick'.

"'Four eyes' being used about a character with glasses. 'Fat' as a derogatory description, pretty much throughout. Another projectile vomit joke. "Frizzball" as a nickname for the teacher with the big hair and unpronounceable name... I'm still going."

Little Britain was removed from BBC Iplayer and Netflix this year due to controversy surrounding the use of blackface characters.

HarperCollins Children's Books, the publisher of Mr Walliams' stories, responded to the criticism to say Ms Monroe's tweets were "factually inaccurate" regarding the character of Miss Tutelage, saying the character is actually white.

Chelmsford Weekly News:

David Walliams

A spokesman told The Mail Online: "David Walliams's books have a diverse readership which is reflected in their content. 

"He writes about the real worlds of children using comedy as a way of confronting many difficult topics, from the ground-breaking The Boy in the Dress to Gangsta Granny, and which should be considered in the wider context of the overall stories. 

"In his World's Worst … series he writes cautionary tales using surreal humour to champion underdogs, deflate the pompous and denounce bullies. 

"David Walliams's books have transformed countless non-readers into booklovers and got families reading together."