You can tell how little someone respects and admires someone by the number of times they say ‘with respect’. Based on the number of times Iain Duncan Smith and Robert Devereux used that phrase in today’s Work and Pensions Select Committee, relations have really hit rock bottom between DWP and the MPs scrutinising the department.
Just to underline his irritation at some of the questions, IDS told Glenda Jackson that he had ‘no idea what you are asking’ and that to understand her, he would have to take a foreign language course. Devereux snapped that she was criticising him for answering the question she’d set, and repeatedly complained that the committee was ‘going round in circles’. Debbie Abrahams asked questions, let IDS utter a few syllables, and then bellowed ‘can I move on now minister, thank you very much’.
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