As much as Labour is claiming to be a break from our current sour politics, judging by today’s DEFRA questions Labour hasn’t abandoned their love of milking political point-scoring. After accusing Thérèse Coffey of being out of touch, Shadow Minister Jim McMahon then asked her for the price of milk and bread in her local supermarket.
Short of getting a rise out of the Secretary of State, Thérèse was well-prepped on the bread-and-butter issue. She easily rebuffed the half-baked attack, conjuring up the figures for a pint, two pints and a “seeded loaf from Tesco” with ease. Better luck next time, Jim – no point crying over spilt milk…
Hysterical scenes in the Commons this afternoon as MPs’ misunderstanding of nicknames and Northern accents somehow managed to turn “Operation Save Big Dog” into “Operation Shag a Dog”. Yet another unexpected Hansard entry for the books…
It all started when Labour MP Jim McMahon claimed “Operation Shaggy Dog [was] in full force” – itself a misquote of the original phrase – with Tory MP Jerome Mayhew then mishearing McMahon through his thick northern accent and responding with “I think the operation wasn’t called Operation Shag a Dog … perhaps he would care to correct that.” Paul Bristow could barely watch. Someone on the Labour benches could even be heard telling Mayhew to “learn Northern”…
Thankfully Labour has a leader with no history of flip-flopping to sort this shadow cabinet mess out…
