AT the end of an evening and night of Commons debate in which SNP Members of Parliament made several excellent and thought-provoking contributions, Tory grandee Sir Graham Brady rose to give his considered verdict.
“I think we have probably heard enough from the Scottish nationalists for all five days of the debate,” said Brady. And they wonder why many if not most Scots want nothing further to do with Westminster...
In the middle of this truly historic debate one Tory MP, Alex Chalk, was more concerned about his own reputation that the future of the United Kingdom.
Cheltenham MP Chalk said: “A point of order, Mr Speaker. I am sorry to trouble you with this, but in the course of proceedings yesterday, you gently rebuked me for intervening from a sedentary position on the Honourable Member for Brighton Pavilion [Caroline Lucas].
WATCH: Ian Blackford just played the rules perfectly at PMQs
“You went on to suggest that there had been general shouting and braying, and the Gloucestershire Echo is now reporting that I was admonished by you for participating in such behaviour. Would you be kind enough to confirm that there was no suggestion of braying or other disrespectful behaviour from me? It is not my style and I would be grateful if the position could be clarified so that the record and the Echo can be set straight."
With his tongue possibly in his cheek, Speaker John Bercow, who if nothing else showed remarkable stamina with more than 12 hours in the chair on Tuesday, replied: “I am very happy to set the record straight for the benefit of the Honourable Gentleman.
“In all my experience of him, which is now quite considerable, I think I can say authoritatively that the Honourable Gentleman and braying are complete strangers; they have never met. Indeed, other than by virtue of the fact that he is a well-educated fellow, I would question whether he would even know the meaning of 'to bray'.
“The Honourable Gentleman is in every other respect a good citizen. He did heckle, but he was not braying, and his behaviour is ordinarily not in any way unseemly, so he can tell his local newspaper to put that in their pipe — if they still have one — and smoke it.”
It really is no surprise that people from across the UK want these jokers gone.
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