When insults backfire ...
I wrote yesterday evening that although the people at the Conservative meeting I attended yesterday represented the whole range of views about Brexit one thing that united them was disapproval of the language of some of the attacks on the PM from various un-named Conservatives at the weekend.
I also wrote that giving in to the temptation to be very rude about someone "rarely if ever helps your case."
Judging by both my twitter feed and press comments such as the Telegraph parliamentary sketch column by Michael Deacon here which was the source of my "second quote of the day" in the previous post, the vast majority of Conservative MPs had much the same reaction as the people at the meeting I attended, to such an extent that the insults have badly backfired.
There was a great deal of comment on twitter about who might have been responsible for the most egregious comments with a view to getting their constituency parties to do something about it - including so many accusations that one particular named MP was supposedly responsible for a particularly horrible comment that Tim Shipman, the chief political correspondent of the Sunday Times, felt obliged to formally deny that the MP concerned had been the source of any of the quotes in his newspaper last weekend.
Michael Deacon reports that when the PM came to report to parliament about the negotiations,
"Brexiteers evidently decided they had little choice but to preface their questions with a condemnation of their anonymous colleagues. Perhaps they did it purely out of principle. Perhaps they did it to discourage anyone from thinking that they’re all as odious as that. Or perhaps they did it to make clear that they themselves weren’t the ones who’d given the quotes.
Whatever their motive, they denounced their unnamed allies in the strongest terms.
“The persons who directed violent language at my Right Honourable Friend have thoroughly disgraced themselves,” snapped Steve Baker (Con, Wycombe). “I very much hope they’re discovered, and that she’ll withdraw the whip from them.”
“May I join those who have condemned the violent language that has been used,” sighed Jacob Rees-Mogg (Con, N E Somerset). “I hold up my Right Honourable Friend as a role model. She is always courteous.”
“I believe most on these benches utterly condemn and regard with disdain the tone of some of the language used,” scowled Sir Roger Gale (Con, N Thanet).
Numerous other members said much the same. And it changed the atmosphere inside the chamber. Instead of anger at Mrs May, there was sympathy."
Well, what a surprise.
I also wrote that giving in to the temptation to be very rude about someone "rarely if ever helps your case."
Judging by both my twitter feed and press comments such as the Telegraph parliamentary sketch column by Michael Deacon here which was the source of my "second quote of the day" in the previous post, the vast majority of Conservative MPs had much the same reaction as the people at the meeting I attended, to such an extent that the insults have badly backfired.
There was a great deal of comment on twitter about who might have been responsible for the most egregious comments with a view to getting their constituency parties to do something about it - including so many accusations that one particular named MP was supposedly responsible for a particularly horrible comment that Tim Shipman, the chief political correspondent of the Sunday Times, felt obliged to formally deny that the MP concerned had been the source of any of the quotes in his newspaper last weekend.
Michael Deacon reports that when the PM came to report to parliament about the negotiations,
"Brexiteers evidently decided they had little choice but to preface their questions with a condemnation of their anonymous colleagues. Perhaps they did it purely out of principle. Perhaps they did it to discourage anyone from thinking that they’re all as odious as that. Or perhaps they did it to make clear that they themselves weren’t the ones who’d given the quotes.
Whatever their motive, they denounced their unnamed allies in the strongest terms.
“The persons who directed violent language at my Right Honourable Friend have thoroughly disgraced themselves,” snapped Steve Baker (Con, Wycombe). “I very much hope they’re discovered, and that she’ll withdraw the whip from them.”
“May I join those who have condemned the violent language that has been used,” sighed Jacob Rees-Mogg (Con, N E Somerset). “I hold up my Right Honourable Friend as a role model. She is always courteous.”
“I believe most on these benches utterly condemn and regard with disdain the tone of some of the language used,” scowled Sir Roger Gale (Con, N Thanet).
Numerous other members said much the same. And it changed the atmosphere inside the chamber. Instead of anger at Mrs May, there was sympathy."
Well, what a surprise.
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