Tom Watson calls Michael Gove a "miserable pipsqueak of a man"

Comments

[Ms H Cushion]

"Labour MP makes an idiot of himself" Do what? Sorry, but we all beg to differ.. the only idiot was Michael Gove who was shown up as the unprincipled,amateurish, lying and arrogant excuse of an MP that he is.

[Commentator]

Watson looks like a nasty cross between John Prescott and Raoul Moat.

[Paul Oakley]

It's noticeable that Bercow only required him to withdraw the word "pipsqueak" and not "miserable". When can we get rid of this speaker?

[sinosimon]

the information gove gave was compiled by a labour invented quango, headed by a labour placeman. we will see more of this. a piece of work so riddled with errors it is almost beyond belief it could be accidental, that embarasses the government as it seeks to make the hard choices that labour ducked. sack the chief, and warn the quango that any future mistakes of thisnature will lead to the conclusion it is not fit for purpose and will close.

[Bill]

MPs as a group lie, twist the truth, select the facts that suit them, and shout childish taunts... MPs as a group are worse than children, children would know better. There are those who are principled, and who stand for something, but you don't prove that making an idiot of yourself...

[Mark Hudson]

Tom Watson is a walking advertisement for the ending of universal suffrage. What on earth he is doing in Parliament is beyond me.

[CityBoy]

Big stuff from a man who, as far as I can tell, spends far more time getting banjoed with assorted Brownite knuckdraggers in Strangers or the Sports and Socialist than actually representing his constituents.

[George Kaplan]

'Out of deferrence to you Mr Speaker'?

How about: 'I apologise to you Mr Speaker and to the Minister for that grossly offensive remark'.

Typical socialist

[Tristan Downing]

Actually Ms H Cushion, we do not ALL beg to differ. That Labour moron did make himself look like an idiot. Of course the only necessary condition of him looking like an idiot is that someone can see him. That kind of behaviour is what one can expect from a member of the Labour party; the largest coagulation of slime on the planet. Bercow is useless and the pathetic excuse for an MP on the opposition back bench should have been ejected from the chamber.

[George Lees]

I think the Labour MP was so confused by the fact that a Minister was offering an apology he did not know how to behave. In 13 years I never heard such a generous apology from a Labour Minister or ever one from Brown. It would never occure to them that apologising for a mistake is teh right thing to do - Watson is a disgrace.

[Paul]

People attacking Speaker Bercow do not seem to understand Parliamentary procedure. Miserable is not an unparliamentary term and thus Watson could not be asked to withdraw that. If you watch the video or the whole statement, you will see that the clerk at the table advised the speaker to reprimand Watson and get him to withdraw only the word "pipsqueak". The idea of Watson of being ejected from the chamber is nonsense, once he withdraws the term then the matter is at an end.

[Martin Marprelate- A Man in the Street!]

Do you honestly think that Michael Gove gave a sh*t what this fat prole had to say? Let's face it, Gove is in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Education, rather an important position I would think. What is Tom Watson, a slobbish Labour backbencher for a safe seat. No contest if you ask me!

[Marquis de la Eirron]

How can he really have a go at anyone have you seen the size of him, i mean come on talk about a fat tub of lard look at his jowls and double chin wobble with indignation....also i think the only reason why bercow really got involved is because Watson addressed him as "Gove" and i don't think your allowed to use someones surname in the Commons are you just the honourable or right honourable member for watever consituency unless your calling them to speak???

[MG]

Labour have nothing left to offer so just resort to idiotic attacks, economically inadequate bleatings and downright scaremongering. All spin and noise (at taxpayers expense) and no real action. No accident that other knuckledragger, Ruane, was sat next to Watson.

[Peter Thurgood]

The matter will never be "at an end", as it has now become a piece of video history for all the world to see and hear.

I know that the dreadful Watson has withdrawn his remarks, but from where? Certainly not from public view, and that is what matters most. His own party, what is left of the bedraggled bunch of misfits, should expell him, he is not fit to be a parliamentarian.

[thelondonliberal.wordpress.com]

It's not a pretty sight to see a 'senior' Labour backbencher all puffed up like that.

Particularly given he was only so upset because Gove didn't return his call...

[Joe Wilson]

Gove is in error on the basis that the buck stops at his door, and he is not a soaring talent by any means. The information however, had been gathered in a cynical way by the last government, and Tom Watson probably knows that. As with the remark, roughly, 'I'm sorry there's no money left.' made in writing by Liam Byrne, the former Chief Secretary, Labour has gone out of its way to make the new government seem to trip. Either the last government's information gathering, which is traditionally passed to a new government, was rubbish, in which case they should surely be ashamed of themselves, or it was purposely incorrectly gathered and presented to the new government, in which case they should surely be ashamed of themselves. Oddly, I was struck by how pip-squeaky a voice came out of such a big man's mouth as that of Tom Watson.

It seems fairly obvious that the reason the previous government are behaving in this exceptionally unattractive and cynical way is because they seriously wish to distract attention away from the fact that they are in complete disarray themselves. Their previous leader but one, Tony Blair, sent the country into an illegal war, something for which he may yet be made accountable, the previous leader, Gordon Brown, when C of the E went so easy on the banks as to be a major cause of what later went wrong, including not putting any money on one side when the country had it to offset against such problems. His strategy was entirely based on people getting into debt. Yet still the previous government managed to award themselves massive pay and pensions increases while in power. He wasn't elected, he refused a referendum, he was weak having been left with very few choices for the cabinet posts in the end. It is from that rump of MPs who were left that a new leader will be picked. All of the talented ones had been forced to step down or had chosen to because they disagreed with him. Consequently the new leader will be weak too as he or she is not one of the many soaring talents that Tony Blair had to choose from. Ultimately Brown was booted out, something which his own party had been ineffectual in doing four times.

Actually, I've come to the conclusion that I totally distrust all six hundred and fifty Members of Parliament, no matter what stripe they are. At the next election I'm going to vote for the 'Keep my head down and make sure I don't get shafted' candidate. They couldn't do worse than any of this or the last lot!

[Ultimo Tiger]

Oh dear. Paul Keating could have come up with something much better than that.

Why can't our Labour Party idiots be as funny as the ones in Australia?

[johnj]

Labour tactics pt 1.

1) In a tricky political climate(29% in the polls) promise lots of things you cant afford before the election in order to buy votes knowing full well economic conditions mean they will be unaffordable.
2)Lose election.
3)When the incoming Govt. cancel the said same policies on the basis of the massive public debt, whine cynically in a delusional handwringing self-righteous manner about how the wicked Tories are 'letting down the hopes of the lil'children/little match girls etc.
4)Fail to mention the 42bn pounds worth of cuts you were planning but didnt spell out before the election.
(See also scorched earth policy)
5) Also fail to mention how the length of the process for the 'future schools programme' would mean those 'let down' children will probably be parents themselves before the schools were finished.

[James Cleverly]

The department made a mistake which was presented as fact by the SoS, Michael apologised for the mistake. This chain of events is unfortunate but these things happen, the idea that this was some cynical act is comic.

Watson's behaviour was childish and so poorly acted as to be incredible, he goes from complete calm to furious and back to calm in about 10 seconds. He has got his Youtube moment which is, I suspect, all he was after.

[Irene]

He reminded me of when Chris Huhne nearly exploded when he was banging on about Coulson and the phone tapping saga.

I think there is more to this than simple department mistakes - anything that involves Balls needs careful scrutiny IMO.

[Jovisgoesorange]

Gove is in error on the basis that the buck stops at his door, and he is not a soaring talent by any means. The information however, had been gathered in a cynical way by the last government, and Tom Watson probably knows that. As with the remark, roughly, 'I'm sorry there's no money left.' made in writing by Liam Byrne, the former Chief Secretary, Labour has gone out of its way to make the new government seem to trip. Either the last government's information gathering, which is traditionally passed to a new government, was rubbish, in which case they should surely be ashamed of themselves, or it was purposely incorrectly gathered and presented to the new government, in which case they should surely be ashamed of themselves. Oddly, I was struck by how pip-squeaky a voice came out of such a big man's mouth as that of Tom Watson.

It seems fairly obvious that the reason the previous government are behaving in this exceptionally unattractive and cynical way is because they seriously wish to distract attention away from the fact that they are in complete disarray themselves. Their previous leader but one, Tony Blair, sent the country into an illegal war, something for which he may yet be made accountable, the previous leader, Gordon Brown, when C of the E went so easy on the banks as to be a major cause of what later went wrong, including not putting any money on one side when the country had it to offset against such problems. His strategy was entirely based on people getting into debt. Yet still the previous government managed to award themselves massive pay and pensions increases while in power. He wasn't elected, he refused a referendum, he was weak having been left with very few choices for the cabinet posts in the end. It is from that rump of MPs who were left that a new leader will be picked. All of the talented ones had been forced to step down or had chosen to because they disagreed with him. Consequently the new leader will be weak too as he or she is not one of the many soaring talents that Tony Blair had to choose from. Ultimately Brown was booted out, something which his own party had been ineffectual in doing four times.

Actually, I've come to the conclusion that I totally distrust all six hundred and fifty Members of Parliament, no matter what stripe they are. At the next election I'm going to vote for the 'Keep my head down and make sure I don't get shafted' candidate. They couldn't do worse than any of this or the last lot!

[Man in a Shed]

I suspect Tom Watson's rage comes from his political impotence and the fact that his career is over and he can no longer hurt people and treat them like he used to do.

His apology was the hight of Labour cynical bullshit.

[MOAT]

Gove must go, and go now.

[JohnT]

Tom is a great supporter of FPTP. He and Prescott will be invaluable during the AV referendum campaign.