Bob Marshall-Andrews, the independent-minded Labour MP for Medway is a Whip’s nightmare. But he’s the sort of stout citizen any parliament worth the name needs more of. Years ago, we received good value from him when we invited him to speak at my undergraduate debating society. So, it’s nice to see that he’s lost none of his waspishness. Via Iain Dale comes this assessment of our boyish Foreign Secretary:
Labour backbenchers seem to be getting uneasy about David Miliband. In Quentin Letts’s Daily Mail sketch today Medway MP Bob Marshall-Andrews describes Miliband as “this pillock* on his gap year**”. Letts insists that Marshall-Andrews was sober when he said this and that he agreed to being quoted.
*A foolish person. Someone with no clue. Derived from northern English slang for a penis.
**A year spent “finding oneself” (ie, traveling) between school and university.
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