James Cleverly….

I don’t see how anyone can believe him. TV and radio ensured we all heard him say it. He’s playing right into the hands of those who say ‘you can’t believe anything they say, they’re all liars ‘

I don’t like him. I think he’s a duplicitous snake.

Good description urmston

Today in the House of Commons just watching James Cleverly his body language along with his feeble attempt at apologising to “the house”. Then the Deputy Speaker saying the matter is now closed!

Of course, the Rwanda policy has been described as "batshit" by him.
Maybe this is just how he talks.

Did he actually apologise?

No, he apologised for what he "didn't say"

Unkind to snakes!!

MayBee70

So that’s it then. Cleverly says he wasn’t referring to Stockton on Tees when he said sh*****e although he now admits that he said it after trying to get away with it.
Deputy Speaker says matter is now closed. Speaker (weakest Speaker I’ve ever known) didn’t even have the decency to preside over it. Matter isn’t over as far as I’m concerned.

What are you going to do? 😁

Come on people, do you think MP’s of any political party always talk like a radio presenter?
Tbh it isn’t at all clear what he did or didn’t say.They all mutter all sorts of stuff at each other from both sides.
The Stockton MP is bound to get on his high horse about it as he’ll be worried what some of the Stockton people may say about it. With all the stuff going on in the world can anyone here really bother about this sort of stuff.

You must all have A1 hearing, cos I couldn’t make it properly or who said it.

Oreo

Come on people, do you think MP’s of any political party always talk like a radio presenter?
Tbh it isn’t at all clear what he did or didn’t say.They all mutter all sorts of stuff at each other from both sides.
The Stockton MP is bound to get on his high horse about it as he’ll be worried what some of the Stockton people may say about it. With all the stuff going on in the world can anyone here really bother about this sort of stuff.

Cleverley admitted when he made his apology to saying sh…..e, but he said that he was referring to the MP not the place. I’ve never heard that word used for a person before, hole is a place, face is a person in that context. Either way, he showed himself up again in response to a perfectly polite question from an opposition MP, I don’t think that can be disputed. If you seriously think people are going to ignore unnecessarily derogatory, offensive language Oreo you’re wrong - standards of behaviour in parliament need to drastically improve to regain public trust.

Well, they’ve been ignoring it for years I expect, I don’t know anyone who is in the least bothered by this storm in a teacup.
What’s changed is that MP’s forget that words get picked up by microphones.
If they were shouting all sorts at each other it would be different, but a mutter is a bit of a non story in my view.
You should hear what some MP’s in other countries do yell at each other.Eye popping.😲

We must have different standards Oreo, because referring to somebody in such derogatory terms is unacceptable to me, whether muttered or not, it was heard. Gordon Brown went down in my estimation when he was overheard on the microphone muttering that somebody was a bigoted woman - and any MP worth his or her salt should have learned from the fallout from that incident. Cleverley’s remark was more offensive. Standards in public life are important.

Different standards? Oh dear that does sound stuffy and snooty.
😁
MP’s are human as the rest of us.Brown didn’t go down in my estimation, he just didn’t realise about the mike being on.
If that was the least that MP’s did it would be alright.
When Labour get in next year as I hope they will,there’s bound to be some comment by Angela Raynor that gets picked up on a mike somewhere.

I’m sorry I didn’t mean to sound stuffy and snooty. I just really hate it when people in high profile jobs, who have the eyes of the whole country on them can’t behave in a professional way. There was so much public furore when Brown’s mask slipped, because such carelessness was not commonplace then, whereas now it would appear that anything goes.

Oreo

MayBee70

So that’s it then. Cleverly says he wasn’t referring to Stockton on Tees when he said sh*****e although he now admits that he said it after trying to get away with it.
Deputy Speaker says matter is now closed. Speaker (weakest Speaker I’ve ever known) didn’t even have the decency to preside over it. Matter isn’t over as far as I’m concerned.

What are you going to do? 😁

He even lied to his fellow MP’s and made them look stupid; they said he didn’t need to apologise because he hadn’t said it. Alex Cunningham has been overwhelmed by the support he has received. I shall continue to write to the Speakers Office about this matter. Just as it’s not good for the country if there’s a weak opposition it’s not good for parliament to have such a weak Speaker. When an MP makes a stand against something that he feels is an injustice I think it’s up to the electorate to support them. And I don’t just support Labour or LibDem MP’s either. If a Conservative MP is brave enough to go against the whip I’ll thank them, too. And I’ve had some very entertaining exchange with some of them. Tony Benn once told me to by critical, not cynical and I shall continue to be critical when I see things happen that are just downright wrong.

Ok👍🏻
I don’t think it’s so much that anything goes now as there’s no room to hide now, every blink, scowl and mutter is watched, heard, or leaked.

There used to be a respect amongst politicians of all parties, even during the Thatcher years. I don’t think there’s much respect for those in government at the moment. Ken Clark doesn’t have a good word to say about them: ditto Grieve, Soubry et al.

I listened to many tributes to Alistair Darling, I wish we had more MPs like him. He understood what was required of people in the public eye and had honesty and integrity. tbh I find the level of political debate in the commons pretty abysmal and the language used appalling. I remember the fuss about Angela Rayner using the word scum, and I said on this forum that if she wanted high public office she needed to moderate her language, now we have our Home Secretary calling another MP a sh......e, (or even worse the MP's constituency). Disgusting behaviour.

Angela Rayner does seem to have polished her presentation as her confidence has grown. She didn’t lie or try to get out of admitting using language sone see as unparliamentary

Cleverly lied, it’s clear he lied. His lie didn’t even have him denying using offensive unnecessary language. Here we are, ordinary folks trying to ensure our children and grandchildren don’t use abusive language to others yet we have a Home Secretary doing it and lying

Have you heard how most schoolchildren talk? 😲
If he did say this, and it’s unproven, then I see it as a human muttered response, not meant to be really heard.Why do people expect MP’s to be saintlike.

I have ears Oreo and thought it was pretty clear.
I think he's a liar and there's no need to speak as he did in a professional environment.

We know the House is shouty and raucous but I find his comment unnecessary. He should just have held his hands up and said sorry. It would all be over now.

It makes him seem worse.

I suspect he meant it in political terms, i.e. that he thinks Stockton North constituency is a shithole because it has a Labour MP.

Rude? Certainly. Politically a big deal? Nope.

This is by patrick Kidd:
"James Cleverly has apologised for being rude about Stockton-on-Tees, though the home secretary says his heckle of “shithole” in PMQs was about its MP. Stockton was good enough for Harold Macmillan, who was its MP before the war and took it as his earldom over Tory Bromley, his second seat. Just before he died in 1986 the former prime minister noted that in 1923, when he first fought the seat, unemployment in Stockton had been 29 per cent. “Last November it was 28 per cent,” he said. “A rather sad end to one’s life.”

Any place with that level of unemployment is going to be a bit of a shithole imo.

Please note, I have not laid any blame, politically or otherwise, about why this level of unemployment exists there (and in other places). I see it simply as fact that if over a quarter of working-age people are unemployed in a place then that place is suffering what might be called shit-dom.