Despite Gordon Brown's pitiful performance at PMQs today, he did manage to mention again that Westminster could no longer be a 'gentlemen's club'. That implies there is a 'them' and 'us' culture within the Westminster parliament and that the Tory grandees forced out the 'working class' Speaker.
Nick Brown, the labour Chief Whip and pal of the PM, has just said that Martin is "one of us" and the "establishment" forced him out. As Paul Waugh says, "given that Michael Martin and Nick Brown are the establishment, that sounds a strange stance to adopt."
Parliament is not only a gentlemen's club it is also a working men's club with all the cronyism and back-room dealing and the prejudice that necessitates. Labour are on thin ice here because they are insulting some in their own party. I am quite sure there are gentlemen in the working men's club and working men in the gentlemen's club.
David Cameron needs to nip this nonsense in the bud right now and not allow this non-existent class spin from labour to continue. I have to admit I would struggle to describe Gordon Brown as a gentleman, but then my generation use the words ladies and gentlemen to describe honest, hard working and genuine people.
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