'Mad Nad'
Matthew Parris was a Conservative MP before turning his hand to writing and broadcasting - which he does now for a variety of of news organisations - including The Times newspaper.
Now Matthew may still be a Tory supporter - for all I know.
I suspect he is, but if so, Matthew has no hesitation about putting the boot into MPs behaving badly - no matter which political party they are from.
Politics would surely benefit if more people took a leaf out of Mathew's book - a refusal to turn a blind eye to the bad behaviour of people on your own 'side' - and willingness to poke fun mercilessly at cant and hypocrisy - yet in a good humoured way.
Here's an extract of what Matthew has to say in The Times today - about the adventures of Mad Nad (Nadine Dorries) who is currently in an Australian jungle - appearing in 'Im a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here'.
The interview conducted by BBC Three Counties Radio is a hoot by the way - worth listening to - a car crash of an interview, so to speak, and here is the link: tinyurl.com/azlzd6n
"I'm a calamity get me out of here .........."
"But back here to Britain, where Nadine Dorries has inflicted on a perfectly harmless chap called William Joce an indignity that he would surely exchange gladly for having his testicles eaten by rats.
Did I mention Cruelty Towers? Cruelty Towers, thy name is BBC Three Counties Radio. Take a listen to the second half of the parliamentary assistant’s interview with the station’s consumer champion, Jonathan Vernon-Smith: tinyurl.com/azlzd6n.
JVS (whose interview technique is deeply, deliciously unfair) is anxious to find out who is looking after Ms Dorries’s constituents while she is away. Mr Joce careers right off the road, never to return, after about 30 seconds. It’s at the point when JVS asks: “What do you think of the fact that she’s left you to do her job?” that young William loses the steering. “I would certainly not say she’s left me doing her job. I’m doing my job . . .”
“So nobody’s doing her job?”
“I’m ... doing ... my job . . .
“And who’s doing her job?”
There follows the longest pause I’ve ever heard on radio. You can hear the sweat falling. Unable to speak at all, he’s pushed aside for another contributor.
Joce, now gripped by internal panic, never has a chance after this. His final collapse comes as, asked another question about his boss’s absence, he replies: “You’d have to put that to her.”
"But we can’t put that to her, that’s the point, she’s in the jungle . . .”
Nadine, we may forgive you your attention-seeking; we may forgive you your wonky judgment; we may even forgive you your political opinions. But what you’ve done to that boy is cruelty beyond belief. You thought you were choking on that ostrich’s anus? Hear William choking on Three Counties Radio and weep."
