Paul Ryan’s photo of Capitol Hill interns raises questions about Republican party diversity

Most of the interns in the photo were white

The picture quickly created controversy (Paul Ryan / Instagram)

Social media has reacted strongly to a picture posted by house speaker Paul Ryan of Republican Party interns working in Washington DC.

The picture, posted on Instagram at the weekend, shows a room full of mostly white young women and men behind a smiling Mr Ryan.

“I think this sets a record for the most number of #CapitolHill interns in a single selfie,” Mr Ryan wrote beside the picture.

Despite the impressive number of interns, social media users were not impressed with the ethnic diversity of the group.

“So much diversity. Look at all those different hair colors,” read one comment.

“Not even one African American in the crowd what a sad picture for the future of the GOP,” read another.

The picture quickly spawned a hashtag on Twitter - #internssowhite - raising more questions about the diversity and practice of procuring interns within the Republican party.

The question of interns was also raised during the 2016 election campaign when it was revealed that democrat Bernie Sanders was the only candidate to pay his interns an hourly wage.

The twitter hashtag follows other successful campaigns like #OscarsSoWhite which highlighted the lack of diversity at the annual Academy Awards in 2016.

Mr Ryan has hit the headlines several times this year, including his refusal to budge on gun controls after a difficult few weeks which saw police killing several unarmed black men, and police officers being shot in Baton Rouge and Dallas.

He also came under fire for endorsing Donald Trump as Republican nominee, despite criticizing Mr Trump just weeks beforehand.