As the chairman of the standards committee, Sir Chris Bryant doesn’t always demonstrate the highest standards. Whether it’s making false claims in the Commons about Nigel Farage or accusations about unparliamentary language, the winner of the 2022 ‘Civility in Politics Award’ can sometimes falls short of what he demands of others. An excellent demonstration of that was offered yesterday in an interview which Bryant did with Times Radio, in which the veteran MP levelled a series of wild accusations at host Calum Macdonald.
Bryant repeatedly questioned Macdonald’s integrity and credentials after the interviewer dared ask the backbencher about the ongoing privileges committee investigation into Boris Johnson. Macdonald asked Bryant if it was right that Harriet Harman was chairing this inquiry, given she has already made her views on Partygate clear. His response was to deflect the question before sneering that ‘You’ve obviously got a view’ and adding ‘I thought you were a broadcaster. I hadn’t realised that you were an opinionist.’ Talk about a fit of pique…
Macdonald explained that ‘I’m putting these comments to you to try to understand why Boris Johnson feels so aggrieved and why you think, actually, justice has been done here. That’s the point that I’m trying to get at.’ Bryant responded smugly by saying ‘You’re not, you’re not!’ before smirking ‘I don’t think you’re a journalist at all, you just want to pump out Boris Johnson’s agenda.’ After criticising Johnson’s claims, Bryant then returned to Macdonald who he claimed was ‘making an attack on Harriet Harman’ and insisting ‘You’re not asking a question, you’re holding a view.’
Attacking journalists for asking questions? So much for Boris being the Trumpian one…
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