Chancellor Philip ‘Hapless’ Hammond received a surgical – and very funny – put-down from Speaker John Bercow in the House of Commons today after setting himself up perfectly for it, provoking hilarity among MPs:
SKWAWKBOX comment:
Hammond’s personality – or otherwise – is aptly summed up by his other nickname: ‘Spreadsheet Phil’. When he tries to be cocky or funny, it’s never a good look – remember his string of dire toilet humour during his Budget statement?
So it was never going to end well when Hammond tried condescending humour toward Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell during Treasury Questions this morning in the House of Commons.
And so it turned out to be, when he was shown how it’s done by Bercow.
How Hammond managed not to realise the trap he had dug for himself is hard to fathom with the government in cowardly disarray after his boss turned tail and fled from a Commons vote on her Brexit deal yesterday.
But then, foresight and logic have been conspicuous only by their absence from the Tories’ dealings for months.
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Speaker Bercow played a blinder there. Sometimes, lately more often, I have to remind myself that he’s a Conservative.