The Bash St Kid's woke new makeover (Image: Getty)

       The Beano strip will see pupils Fatty and Spotty renamed Freddy and Scotty to stop youngsters with acne or weight problems being taunted.

       The gang, stalwarts of the comic for 70 years, are also joined by five new pupils – including Mandi, whose anxieties highlight mental health problems, and hijab-wearing Khadija – to better -represent modern Britain.

       The changes were devised with the help of consultancy Inclusive Minds, which rewrote Roald Dahl’s books to remove material deemed offensive.

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       The original Bash St Kids, pre woke makeover (Image: Getty)

       Sir John Hayes, of the Common Sense Group of Tory MPs, said: “Rewriting classic novels is bad enough but rewriting children’s comics takes ridiculousness to a new level. The Beano is fun because it’s naughty.

       “What sort of world do we live in when on one hand we are more prurient with full-frontal nudity on Channel 4, and on the other more puritanical with changes to The Beano?”

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       The Beano comics have been running for over 70 years (Image: Getty)

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       But Beano creative director Mike Stirling was not fazed by the prospect of being branded “woke”.

       He said: “We have never seen that as a pejorative term. It’s awareness and being awake to things.

       “The Bash Street Kids were completely anachronistic. Nine were boys and one was a girl. All of them were white. The make-up of that class was okay in 1954 but it had to change.

       “We don’t take out the characters our readers’ grandad or granny loved but have brought in new characters.”

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