What a vaguely ridiculous old man the Labour MP Dennis Skinner has threatened to become. When he entered politics he was a left wing firebrand, who after working in the coal mines, rose to become a NUM leader (compare and contrast with the backgrounds of the current contenders for the Labour party leadership). When he became an Member of Parlament in 1970, he demanded that MP's get paid only what a working man got paid.
Nicknamed 'The Beast of Bolsover', I half admired his convictions (he often donated his MP wages to union causes), if not his left wing politics, which even his colleagues in a much more socialist Labour party, would ignore. Nowadays though, the fig leaf of being a leading figure on the 'loony left' has been stripped away, and now he's just a leadingloo ... err, anyway, he wanted the other Milliband to become Leader, and may be a bit of a hypocrite.
I say that because, he is 83 years old, and still grimly hanging on to his Westminster seat. This after years of telling everyone that he would retire aged 65 like a worker would do. He once said that upon reaching the age of retirement, 65, he would retire so as to “not take another man’s job”, however he stood again in 1997 and has carried on doing so, including this year .... so he's now taken half another man's career.
No doubt he has convinced himself that his experience as an 'elder statesman', would be gravely missed by a distraught nation if he should leave his spot. Or perhaps he just can't bear the idea that if he retired, he would no long be at the centre of the nation's political heart. In any case he is still there, nearly 20 years later. Only now he no longer worries about the Tory content of the Queens Speech ... no, now he has "bigger fish to fry".
The seat he now worries about, is still a parliamentary seat, only now it's his front row seat in the commons. Apparently a bunch of hairy arsed jocko homo's from the SNP, fresh from kicking the Labour Parties butt in Scotland, have tried to take Mr Skinners spot on the front row. By convention the third biggest party in the Commons – which has for years was the Liberal Democrats – is given the front bench next to the main opposition party. But Mr Skinner, has sat in the same spot whenever Labour has been in opposition for the last 40 years, and has refused to move for the SNP. "I was there before them, and I'll be there when they're gone."
So he has reacted badly, and in fact rather in a manner that you might expect from an old man losing his favourite spot at the bar of his local. First he squawked, and tried to complain (as though he owned the spot), then he tried muscling in by squeezing into a little spot not covered with a tartan clad backside. Finally he has now resorted to the German towel technique and apparently turns up at 6 am to secure 'his spot'. ..... Yes, apparently Mr Skinner and some other Labour MPs have been queuing up hours before the Commons chamber opens at 8am, just to put name holders in seat places and thwart the SNP members.
Of course as any self respecting British tourist to Europe knows, all the SNP MP's have to do, is place the name holders on another set of seats, and just dare theGermans, I mean Labour party MP's to call them out.
Laughable, and a parody of the man he once was. If the Skinner of 20 years ago could see what he has is now resorting to, he might have retired at 65 after all. All it reminded me of was two bald men fighting over a comb.
Nicknamed 'The Beast of Bolsover', I half admired his convictions (he often donated his MP wages to union causes), if not his left wing politics, which even his colleagues in a much more socialist Labour party, would ignore. Nowadays though, the fig leaf of being a leading figure on the 'loony left' has been stripped away, and now he's just a leading
I say that because, he is 83 years old, and still grimly hanging on to his Westminster seat. This after years of telling everyone that he would retire aged 65 like a worker would do. He once said that upon reaching the age of retirement, 65, he would retire so as to “not take another man’s job”, however he stood again in 1997 and has carried on doing so, including this year .... so he's now taken half another man's career.
No doubt he has convinced himself that his experience as an 'elder statesman', would be gravely missed by a distraught nation if he should leave his spot. Or perhaps he just can't bear the idea that if he retired, he would no long be at the centre of the nation's political heart. In any case he is still there, nearly 20 years later. Only now he no longer worries about the Tory content of the Queens Speech ... no, now he has "bigger fish to fry".
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| The Beast In His Usual Seat ... And Usual Form. |
The seat he now worries about, is still a parliamentary seat, only now it's his front row seat in the commons. Apparently a bunch of hairy arsed jocko homo's from the SNP, fresh from kicking the Labour Parties butt in Scotland, have tried to take Mr Skinners spot on the front row. By convention the third biggest party in the Commons – which has for years was the Liberal Democrats – is given the front bench next to the main opposition party. But Mr Skinner, has sat in the same spot whenever Labour has been in opposition for the last 40 years, and has refused to move for the SNP. "I was there before them, and I'll be there when they're gone."
So he has reacted badly, and in fact rather in a manner that you might expect from an old man losing his favourite spot at the bar of his local. First he squawked, and tried to complain (as though he owned the spot), then he tried muscling in by squeezing into a little spot not covered with a tartan clad backside. Finally he has now resorted to the German towel technique and apparently turns up at 6 am to secure 'his spot'. ..... Yes, apparently Mr Skinner and some other Labour MPs have been queuing up hours before the Commons chamber opens at 8am, just to put name holders in seat places and thwart the SNP members.
Of course as any self respecting British tourist to Europe knows, all the SNP MP's have to do, is place the name holders on another set of seats, and just dare the
Laughable, and a parody of the man he once was. If the Skinner of 20 years ago could see what he has is now resorting to, he might have retired at 65 after all. All it reminded me of was two bald men fighting over a comb.
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