editorial comment And this is exactly why we want the Tory back...... Enough of Nanny Blair!

DENNIS Skinner, the veteran Labour MP, remained unrepentant last night after he was ejected from the Commons chamber for levelling a drugs slur at George Osborne, the shadow chancellor.

Mr Skinner, who represents Bolsover, was disciplined after saying yesterday that the only thing that grew during the Conservatives' time in government were the "lines of coke" in front of Mr Osborne.


The jibe came the day after David Cameron, the new Tory leader, chided Labour MPs for their "childish" antics during Prime Minister's Questions.

Michael Martin, the Speaker, reprimanded Mr Skinner with a one-day ban from the Commons.

Mr Skinner's comment was made in response to Mr Osborne's mocking of Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, for getting his economic growth forecast wrong.

Mr Skinner, a former miner, rounded on Mr Osborne: "In the 70s and in a lot of the 80s we would have thanked our lucky stars in the coalfield areas to have got a growth of 1.75 per cent.

"The only thing that was growing then were the lines of coke in front of 'boy George' and the rest of the Tories."

Asked by The Scotsman last night whether he regretted the remark, Mr Skinner replied: "It's all there, I have no comment to make."

MPs are covered by parliamentary privilege when speaking in the Chamber, but hurling insults is considered to be "unparliamentary" behaviour.

This article: http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=2373732005

Last updated: 09-Dec-05 01:35 GMT

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