The Beast of Bolsover accuses Osborne of snorting cocaine

BBCi:

"Labour MP Dennis Skinner has been banned from the Commons for the rest of Thursday for accusing shadow chancellor George Osborne of snorting cocaine.  The claim came as Mr Osborne took on ministers at Treasury questions.  Referring to the 1980s, Mr Skinner said: "The only thing that was growing then was the lines of coke in front of Boy George and the rest of the Tories."

Daily Mail:

"Dennis Skinner's Commons outburst against the new Tory team is by no means the first time the MP dubbed the Beast of Bolsover has fallen foul of such rules of Parliamentary behaviour.  In 1992, the plain-speaking scourge of sensitive Speakers - was ejected for calling the, then, Agriculture Minister John Gummer a "little squirt of a minister" and a "wart".  He was also removed for the day by former Speaker Betty Boothroyd in 1995 for accusing ministers of engaging in a "crooked deal" to sell off the coal industry.  In 1981 he was also "named" - the next stage up in the Speakers' disciplinary weaponry - and banned from the chamber for five days."

Comments

[Jonathan Sheppard]

Good old Skinner. Living next door to Bolsover I've always liked Skinner in some respects. He's the kind of politcian we will never see again - someone who really doesn't care what he says. In a world of media management it is still quite refreshing.

[James Hellyer]

It was in The News of the World. It must be true. Apparently.

[Graeme Archer]

Presumably, given his reputation for blunt speaking (I think that's Northern for "being rude"), Skinner wouldn't mind in turn being described as a left winger of no distinction who's been proven wrong on every substantive issue he ever expressed an opinion on? I invoked Iris Murdoch earlier. I think you'd need A N Wilson to do Skinner justice. Isn't there an ex Labour MP of quite nauseating self-regard in "Hemlock and After?".

[Graeme Archer]

Angus Wilson! I meant Angus Wilson!

[Selsdon Man]

There are different rules for left-wingers. If they are rude, the media calls them eccentric. If we indulge in name calling, we are nasty. Double standards!

[Coxy]

You've got it wrong Selsdon Man. We *are* nasty, remember? You can't blame the media, it's our own fault. We need to change to win.

You can start by apologising for being from Selsdon, and a Man. Are you white and middle class? Tut, tut. What would Francis say?

[Neil]

So the Beast strikes again!! To me this is evidence that they are all rattled by DC, not just the cabinet!! We have to exploit the obvious splits that will grow on the Government benches, I believe DC should bring up a witty comment concerning this Coke outburst at the next PMQ's and ask if that is the general Party opinion, in the same way GB made out that Howard Flight's comments reflected the wider Tory opinion!!!!

[Jack stone]

The thing that says it all about Skinner is that he will say these things in the chamber but he hasn`t got the guts enough to say them outside because he knows George Osborne will sue the backside off him.
Skinner is nothing more than a dinosaur and the sooner his like die out the better.

[James Maskell]

I remember reading somewhere in the past day or so the line "if DC is ever in the dark all he has to do is use his nose and follow the white lines..." or something like that. Pretty disgraceful. Anyone know where I was looking?

[Richard Carey]

"In a world of media management it is still quite refreshing."

Or quite useless, perhaps? Can't we do something to get him promoted? From a Tory perspective, Dennis Skinner working from the Labour front bench would be a marvellous step forward. Perhaps under a Brown leadership, it might be possible? *grins inanely*