Dinosaur Joker

Dennis Skinner is a joke in my book, but that seems to be his main function in the House of Commons these days where his heckles and bon mots reduce many of his fellow MPs to stitches.

The only thing I find funny about the Labour MP for Bolsover which he has represented continuously since 1970, is that he is still in office at the ripe old age of 84. 

Surely the local Labour Party can find someone else to stand and fight their corner: a young person, a woman or someone from an ethnic minority background perhaps.

Because after 46 years and counting, Dennis has had a very good innings on the public purse and it's high time he made way for some new blood.



http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/dennis-skinner-gag-veteran-labour-mp-tells-tories-to-keep-their-hands-off-the-bbc-a7035446.html


Dennis Skinner gag: Veteran Labour MP tells Black Rod 'hands off the BBC'

The left-winger used his gag to draw attention to changes proposed to the BBC

Labour MP Dennis Skinner has used his customary joke at the State Opening of Parliament to draw attention to perceived attacks on the BBC.

The veteran left-winger shouted “hands off the BBC!’ at the Queen’s representative marched through the House of Commons.

Popular Dinosaur (04/07/14)

The news that Dennis Skinner (82) has been voted off Labour's national executive committee has been treated like a death in the family in some circles, but I can't say I'm surprised because the veteran MP has become a caricature of himself in recent years, if you ask me.

Dennis seems to earn, if that's the right word, his salary these days by shouting rude and occasionally funny things at opposition politicians in the House of Commons, in the fashion of the two old men from the Muppet Show (Statler and Waldorf) who constantly complained about the quality of the fare on offer.

I loved the obsequious quote from Jim Murphy in this report from The Guardian in which he says, without a hint of irony, that he hopes the octogenarian MP will make a NEC comeback - which would presumably require Dennis to stand as an MP again at the next (2015) general election.

Dennis Skinner voted off Labour national executive committee

Veteran MP replaced by John Healey in a move criticised by some members of the Labour party as 'politically immature'

By Nicholas Watt - The Guardian

Dennis Skinner, the Labour MP for Bolsover. Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

Dennis Skinner, the scourge of Tory prime ministers from Ted Heath to David Cameron who was dubbed the "Beast of Bolsover", has been voted off Labour's governing national executive committee, prompting an outcry from across the party.

Hours after the veteran MP for Bolsover had taunted the prime minister as a member of the Bullingdon Club responsible for wrecking the NHS, the party announced he had been unseated.

Skinner, 82, who was first elected to parliament in 1970, was replaced in the NEC backbench MPs' section by the former minister John Healey. The other backbenchers elected to the NEC were the former deputy leader Margaret Beckett and the Liverpool Walton MP Steve Rotheram.

The Labour party denied reports that Skinner had been unseated after irritating Miliband's office. A spokesperson said: "There is absolutely no irritation from Ed or anyone in his office at Dennis. This was purely a matter for the parliamentary Labour party."

One party source said Skinner had been a victim of the leadership's determination to ensure that Healey, a loyalist, was elected to the NEC.

The removal of the veteran leftwinger prompted a strong reaction. John McDonnell, a fellow leftwinger, tweeted: "Dennis Skinner voted off Labour's NEC by Labour MPs. Sign of how distant from reality and from the views of our members some of them are."

John Mann, the MP for Bassetlaw, tweeted: "Naive political immaturity in parliamentary Labour party in knocking Dennis Skinner off NEC in election year."

Jim Murphy, the Blairite shadow international development secretary, tweeted: "Really sorry to hear that Dennis Skinner was voted off Labour's NEC today. A brilliant MP & good friend. Hopefully he'll make NEC comeback."

The treatment of Skinner contrasts with his experience while Tony Blair was leader of the Labour party. Blair courted Skinner and used to invite him to his office for chats.

Statler and Waldorf

Double Standards (29/01/13)

The reason that I have little time for the Labour party these days is that it's full of hypocrites - and people who behave like hypocrites on a regular basis.

Take last week's Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) at Westminster - during which a 'question' was asked by the Labour MP for Bolsover - Dennis Skinner.

The question was really an attack on the Prime Minister as he prepared to 'swan off' to yet  another World Economic Summit at Davos where - according to Dennis - David Cameron would be in his element rubbing shoulders with other 'posh boys' and the world's great and good.

Now David Cameron had the perfect riposte to this question which was that - if he remembered correctly, he happened to bump into Dennis Skinner's party leader - Ed Miliband - the last time he was in Davos.

In other words, what was the old Labour warhorse banging on about - was this not  just another of Labour's double standards - before he went on to 'explain' how much valuable work was done by world leaders at Davos - blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

But it's actually much worse than that - because I don't remember Dennis Skinner making such a fuss when Tony Blair went to these global events as Prime Minister - or Gordon Brown for that matter.

Never mind Ed Miliband jetting off to mingle with some of the world's most influential people - while acting only as the leader of the Her Majesty's official opposition.

So you wonder - or at least I wonder - where politicians get off in spouting such nonsense, yet without the slightest hint of embarrassment or shame at the hypocrisy involved. 

I'll also wager a small bet that Gordon Brown - a colleague of Dennis Skinner's of course and a former Labour Prime Minister - was also swanning around Davos last week.

Despite the fact that Gordon's day job is now that of a backbench Labour MP - the member for Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy.

Now it could be that Dennis is keeping his powder dry for Gordon Brown - that he will have some words of trenchant criticism to voice another day - but if so, I will be hugely surprised.

In fact, I think I'll eat my hat.