Labour MPs attack Jubilee celebrations as irrational and "a show of opulence by state elites"

By Matthew Barrett
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This morning, Tory MP Greg Hands tweeted: "Still lots of Labour MPs on Twitter carping and trying to find fault - any fault - they can with the Jubilee. Sad, but not surprising."

Hands was referring to the lack of positive tweets about the Jubilee celebrations coming from Labour MPs. A number of them were tweeting about the bad treatment of unemployed people used as stewards for the celebrations. Other thoughts from Labour MPs included:

Contagious infantalism silenced rational argument.

— Paul Flynn(@Paulflynnmp) June 6, 2012

Denis MacShane tried to put this angle on the coverage:

Professor friend abroad calls to say he was struck at all faces in Jubilee events seemed to be white. That right?

— Denis MacShane (@DenisMacShane) June 6, 2012

Finally, former member of Gordon Brown's bunker, Tom Watson implied the last weekend was "a show of opulence by state elites":

@MichaelWhite Young people as commodities with few rights in a show of opulence by state elites? Isn't there a powerful symbolism to that?

— tom_watson (@tom_watson) June 6, 2012

The last tweet has proven controversial, as Conservative MP Priti Patel has released this statement:

"It’s shameful for the Deputy Chairman of the Labour Party to attack the Queen and the Jubilee celebrations in this way. Tom Watson should apologise for these comments and Ed Miliband should condemn them immediately."