UK Minister Apologizes for Insulting Labour Lawmaker
London: Britain’s interior minister, James Cleverly, issued an apology on Thursday for violating the politeness rules of the UK parliament. This came after a strong off-mic criticism of a Labour Member of Parliament (MP), according to a source and spokesperson.
Cleverly faced pressure to apologize after allegations arose that he had insulted a constituency in the House of Commons on Wednesday. However, a source close to the Conservative minister clarified that his remark was directed at the MP for Stockton North and not the constituency itself.
The source stated, “James called Alex Cunningham a **** MP. He apologizes for using unparliamentary language.” The UK parliament defines “unparliamentary language” as language that breaches the rules of politeness in the House of Commons Chamber. It includes words such as blackguard, coward, git, guttersnipe, hooligan, rat, swine, stoolpigeon, and traitor.
Cleverly’s comment came in response to Cunningham’s question during the weekly prime minister’s questions session, where he asked, “Why are 34 percent of children in my constituency living in poverty?” However, audio recordings were inconclusive.
The person close to Cleverly emphasized that he would never criticize Stockton and has actively campaigned there, acknowledging it as a great place. A spokesperson for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak reaffirmed the leader’s full confidence in Cleverly.
Cleverly recently took over as interior minister, replacing Suella Braverman, in a reshuffle of Sunak’s top team. The reshuffle also saw former prime minister David Cameron become the foreign secretary.
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