The petty, mean and deliciously rude ways British politicians insult one another

[mahatmakanejeeves]

The petty, mean and deliciously rude ways British politicians insult one another

By Adam Taylor February 25 at 2:00 AM
@mradamtaylor

In Britain's Parliament, the ongoing debate about leaving the European Union has descended into ugly insults and jeers. For example, on Tuesday, Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour party, was telling his fellow lawmakers about a recent trip to Europe. "Last week I was in Brussels," Corbyn began, "meeting European leaders and heads of socialist parties. And one of them said to me…"

Out of nowhere, a Conservative member of Parliament shouted: "Who are you?" Britain's most important politicians descended into a wave of giggles at the insult. Corbyn was unable to continue speaking for another 30 seconds.

That wasn't an isolated incident. On Wednesday, British Prime Minister David Cameron was talking about proposed budget cuts when a Labour MP shouted at him: "Ask your mom!" It was a reference to the fact that Cameron's own mother had signed a petition opposing the cuts that her son, the prime minister, supported. ... Cameron quickly fired back with an insult about Corbyn's attire, even though Corbyn himself had not actually mentioned his mother. “Ask my mother?” the prime minister responded quickly. “I know what my mother would say. She’d look across the dispatch box, and she’d say, ‘Put on a proper suit, do up your tie, and sing the national anthem!’” (The last bit refers to the left-wing Corbyn's reluctance to involve himself in displays of nationalism).

Even Boris Johnson, the media-savvy Conservative MP and mayor of London who has endured years on various British comedy panel shows, found himself on the receiving end this week. As Johnson, a major voice in the campaign to leave Europe, stood up to speak on Tuesday, he was greeted by a wave of moans and an obnoxious order: "Tuck your shirt in, Boris."

[longship]

1. Yup! Blame it on "The Goon Show"

Or maybe the Goons (Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe) were influenced by parliament. One can never be sure.

A little taste!

Anyway one looks at it, it's a lot of fun, and more than a bit of lunacy. If only US congress wasn't so polite.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. Disraeli: I was laughing so hard that someone came over from two cubicles away.

Last edited Fri Feb 26, 2016, 12:30 PM - Edit history (1)

There have been scores of other inventive abuses over the years. In 2013, former transport minister Simon Burns was reprimanded after being reported to have mouthed “stupid, sanctimonious dwarf" to diminutive House of Commons Speaker John Bercow (he later apologized to dwarves). In 2010, Labour MP Tom Watson shouted across the room to his Conservative colleague Michael Gove, "You're a miserable pipsqueak of a man." British Prime Minister John Major suggested his then-rival, Tony Blair, was a "dimwit" in 1995, while Blair later told Major he was the "weakest link." In the 1980s, Labour MP Tony Banks said Margaret Thatcher was acting "with the sensitivity of a sex-starved boa-constrictor," while MP Dennis Skinner called one of his rivals a "pompous sod" (and then offered to retract the word pompous, but not sod).

Insults in Parliament go back a long, long way. One (possibly apocryphal) story suggests that Benjamin Disraeli, the famously quick-witted politician of the Victorian era, once told Parliament that half of the cabinet were asses. When asked to withdraw his comment by the speaker of the House, Disraeli supposedly responded: "Mr. Speaker, I withdraw. Half the cabinet are not asses."

[malthaussen]

3. Read some of the exchanges between Winston Churchill and Lady Astor...

... obviously, they loved and respected each other deeply.

-- Mal

[nxylas]

4. Lady Astor: "Churchill, you are drunk!"

Churchill: "And you, Lady Astor, are ugly. But I shall be sober in the morning."