Speaker John Bercow delivered another epic smackdown in the Commons today when he blasted a Tory minister for a “long-winded, boring and unnecessary” dig at Labour.
Treasury Minister Greg Hands was on the receiving end of Bercow’s latest jibe after referencing a story in today’s Sun newspaper that Labour have reportedly hired Greek economist Yanis Varoufakis as an advisor.
But as Hands tried to make the point, a less than impressed Bercow got to his feet and delivered a withering put down.
“Order, sit down, it’s a terrible waste of time - long-winded boring and unnecessary,” said Bercow, to howls of laughter from the Labour benches.
The Sun reported this morning that Labour backbenchers were unhappy with leader Jeremy Corbyn hiring the ex-Greek finance minister as an economic advisor.
Addressing the Commons the afternoon, Hands said: “In terms of any external advisors taken on by the party opposite Mr Speaker, I am quite clear and it would appear from this morning’s Sun that Labour MPs are extremely unhappy about that state of affairs.”
Chancellor George Osborne also got involved in the mocking, and attacked Labour for also hiring former Channel 4 economics editor Paul Mason as an advisor.
Describing Mason as a “revolutionary Marxist”, Osborne said: “Presumably they chose those two because Chairman Mao was dead and Mickey Mouse was busy.”