The Liberal Democrat MP has accused Ultimo’s founder, Michelle Mone, of double standards for dropping Katie after topless pictures of her appeared in a tabloid newspaper.
Ms Mone had claimed the 21-year-old lingerie model was ‘publicity hungry’.
A lot of front: Katie Green in a Wonderbra promotion
Mr Opik, 44, said: ‘Katie is neither a gold-digger nor a publicity junkie.
Frankly, she’s never betrayed a confidence and when we’ve been out somewhere she’s more interested in the food than photos.
‘She hasn’t once said anything about Michelle or the Ultimo business, so I’m quite surprised by what’s happened. It’s a bit ironic if an industry which is entirely dependent on women’s breasts turns out to be embarrassed by a woman’s breasts.’
Miss Green was dropped by email for breaking the company’s strict no nudity clause after she was pictured frolicking topless on a beach in Portugal.
She was signed by Ms Mone last summer after quitting a similar role at Wonderbra.
Very Good friends: Lembit and Katie campaigning in the summer
Ms Mone said: ‘I’m trying to run a global brand here and I’m not going to worry about wee girls like her.’
Last night, a friend of Katie’s insisted: ‘The pictures that appeared weren’t posed for. She was on a beach when somebody photographed her.
'She’s done topless modelling before and Ultimo knew that when they signed her.
‘Look at the other girls who are still working for Ultimo. Melinda Messenger is a face of the same range, Jordan has worked for them and Rachel Hunter has posed naked for Playboy.
‘Katie’s really disappointed and she’ll be very touched that Lembit’s come out in support of her.’
Mr Opik and Miss Green were first linked during the summer when she joined forces with the MP for Montgomeryshire to launch a ‘Say No to Size Zero’ campaign.
The pair met at a cocktail party and claimed to have enjoyed a string of dinners ‘at little wine bars’.
Speaking at the time, Katie described her summer with Lembit as ‘a real whirlwind’.
In August, they both posed in front of the Houses of Parliament at the launch of their online petition against designers’ promotion of an unrealistic and unhealthy body ‘ideal’.
At the time they would say only that they were ‘very, very good friends’.
Last night, Mr Opik said: ‘As far as any saucy photos are concerned, these were hardly a secret. What did they think she was doing as a model? Covering herself up in a bin bag?’
Miss Green declined to comment.
Ref: Mail Online
