Winners
| Year | Recipient | Image | Rationale | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Quayle, DanDan Quayle | Although the Foot in Mouth award was not introduced until 1993, the Vice President of the United States, Dan Quayle received a special mention during the 1991 awards for his quote: "We offer the party as a big tent. How we do that (recognise the big tent philosophy) with the platform, the preamble to the platform or whatnot, that remains to be seen. But that message will have to be articulated with great clarity." | ||
| 1993 | Dexter, TedTed Dexter | Dexter, a senior figure in the Marylebone Cricket Club, won the inaugural award for trying to explain a loss by the England cricket team by saying: "Maybe we are in the wrong sign. Maybe Venus is in the wrong juxtaposition with something else. I don't know." | ||
| 1994 | Brown, GordonGordon Brown | As the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, Brown gave a speech on "New Economics" full of baffling jargon such as; "the growth of post neo-classical endogenous growth theory" and "debate over the meaning and implications of competitiveness at the level of individuals, the firm or the nation and the role of government in fashioning modern industrial policies which focus on nurturing competitiveness." | ||
| 1997 | Underwood, NickNick Underwood | A member of the Teletubbies marketing department, Underwood won the award for his explanation that; "in life, there are all colours and the Teletubbies are a reflection of that. There are no nationalities in the Teletubbies – they are techno-babies, but they are supposed to reflect life in that sense." | ||
| 1998 | Morgan, RhodriRhodri Morgan | Rhodri Morgan, a Welsh Labour politician confused interviewer Jeremy Paxman when asked if he would like to be leader of the Welsh Assembly, by responding: "Does a one-legged duck swim in circles?" | ||
| 1999 | Hoddle, GlennGlenn Hoddle | The England football manager won the award for his response to a question about his earlier comments about disabled people: "I do not believe that. At this moment in time, if that changes in years to come I don't know, but what happens here today and changes as we go along that is part of life's learning and part of your inner beliefs. But at this moment in time I did not say them things and at the end of the day I want to put that on record because it has hurt people." | ||
| 2000 | Silverstone, AliciaAlicia Silverstone | The American actress, star of Clueless, was awarded for her comment: "I think that Clueless was very deep. I think it was deep in the way that it was very light. I think lightness has to come from a very deep place if it's true lightness." | ||
| 2001 | Emin, TraceyTracey Emin | Artist Tracey Emin won the award for her comment: "When it comes to words I have a uniqueness that I find almost impossible in terms of art – and it's my words that actually make my art quite unique." | ||
| 2002 | Gere, RichardRichard Gere | The American actor was presented with the award for his philosophical comment: "I know who I am. No one else knows who I am. If I was a giraffe and somebody said I was a snake, I'd think 'No, actually I am a giraffe." | ||
| 2003 | Rumsfeld, DonaldDonald Rumsfeld | For his overuse of the word "know" during a press briefing given as United States Secretary of Defense: "Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don't know we don't know." | ||
| 2004 | Johnson, BorisBoris Johnson | During the BBC's light-hearted news quiz show Have I Got News for You, Conservative politician Johnson commented, "I could not fail to disagree with you less." | ||
| 2005 | Morgan, RhodriRhodri Morgan | Welsh politician Rhodri Morgan's second award was given for a quote made during a debate on policing; "The only thing which isn't up for grabs is no change and I think it's fair to say, it's all to play for, except for no change." | ||
| 2006 | Campbell, NaomiNaomi Campbell | The English Supermodel picked up the award for her quote "I love England, especially the food. There's nothing I like more than a lovely bowl of pasta." | ||
| 2007 | McClaren, SteveSteve McClaren | For describing footballer Wayne Rooney by saying: "He is inexperienced, but he's experienced in terms of what he's been through", when talking to BBC Radio 5 Live in his role as England manager. | ||
| 2008 | Bush, George W.George W. Bush | Bush's award was made during his final year in office as President of the United States. Entitled a "Lifetime Achievement Award", it was given for his "services to gobbledygook". His gaffes were described as covering a large number of topics, and included comments such as "I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and what I believe – I believe what I believe is right", and, "I hope you leave here and walk out and say, 'what did he say?'" | ||
| 2009 | Mandelson, LordLord Mandelson | Awarded for the Labour politician's remark on the investigation into the United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal; "Perhaps we need not more people looking round more corners but the same people looking round more corners more thoroughly to avoid the small things detracting from the big things the Prime Minister is getting right." | ||
| 2010 | Redknapp, JamieJamie Redknapp | Repeated misuse of the word "literally" made during his career as a sports commentator, in such quotes as: "These balls now – they literally explode off your feet." | ||
| 2011 | Berlusconi, SilvioSilvio Berlusconi | The former Italian Prime Minister received the award for comments such as "I am pretty often faithful", when talking about fidelity in 2006, and describing Barack Obama in 2008 as being "Handsome, young and also suntanned". |
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“The two real political parties in America are the Winners and the Losers. The people don’t acknowledge this. They claim membership in two imaginary parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, instead.”
—Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (b. 1922)