Thursday, January 31, 2008

Greg Mulholland calls minister "an arsehole"

The Yorkshire Evening Post reports:
A Leeds MP could be forced to apologise to after he called a government minster an "a***hole" and stormed out of a debate.
Speaker Michael Martin is today investigating Greg Mulholland's outburst, made yesterday during a fiery debate in Westminster Hall - the second Commons debating chamber.

Mr Mulholland was enraged after health minister Ivan Lewis refused to let him intervene into the discussion about the funding of hospices.

The Leeds North West MP, a Lib Dem health spokesman, had earlier spoke passionately about "inequalities" in hospice funding.
You can find a transcript of the debate in Hansard, which is equally coy:
Mr. Lewis: The only partisan contributions made during the debate were made by the hon. Members for Cheadle (Mark Hunter) and for Leeds, North-West (Greg Mulholland). They turned it into a party political issue. They talked about a real-terms cut in the amount of funding for hospices based on those figures. That was absolutely opportunistic and disgraceful.

Greg Mulholland: Will the Minister give way?

Mr. Lewis: Will the hon. Gentleman be writing a blank cheque to the hospice movement? Is he saying that if the Liberal Democrats ever formed the Government, they would meet all the hospice costs at 100 per cent. recovery? Of course not, but that is the impression that Liberal Democrat Members always give when contributing to debates.

Greg Mulholland: Will the Minister give way?

Mr. Lewis: We are all fed up with it. I return to the substantive issues.

Greg Mulholland: Will the Minister give way?

Mr. Lewis: I will not give way.

On regulation costs, I shall consider the question of the consultation that the Healthcare Commission is undertaking—

Greg Mulholland: He’s an a*******.

Mr. Lewis: —and the nature of regulation costs. That was not very parliamentary language.

4 comments:

James Graham (Quaequam Blog!) said...

Hansard states that Greg called him an a*******. I'm sure we can come up with more creative 8 letter insults that start with "A" than arsehole. Any suggestions?

Jonny Wright said...

Greg Mulholland: He's an aardvark!

Anonymous said...

What is the problem. Variuos people misheard. the comment was:
"He's an ass! Wholly!

Chris lovell said...

In the full hansard record the minister was most definitely an arsehole.