Avoiding Unparliamentary Language
It is a point of pride among some British MPs to be able to insult their opponents in the House without use of unparliamentary language. Several MPs, notably Sir Winston Churchill, have been considered masters of this game.
Some terms which have evaded the Speaker's rules are:
- Terminological inexactitude (lie)
- Being economical with the truth (lying by omission, originally from the Matrix Churchill "Arms-to-Iraq" affair), since used on the floor of the house as an insult or taunt.
Clare Short implicitly accused the Employment minister Alan Clark of being drunk at the dispatch box shortly after her election in 1983, but avoided using the word, saying that Clark was "incapable". Clark's colleagues on the Conservative benches in turn accused Short of using unparliamentary language and the Speaker asked her to withdraw her accusation. Clark later admitted in his diaries that Short had been correct in her assessment.
Read more about this topic: Unparliamentary Language
Famous quotes containing the words avoiding and/or language:
“As you are entered with the class of Nat. philosophy, give to it the hours of lecture, but devote all your other time to Mathematics, avoiding company as the bane of all progress.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
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—Frederico Fellini (1920–1993)