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 1. News
 2. Politics


‘SHITSHOW!’ BRITAIN’S POTTY-MOUTHED PARLIAMENT

MPs are increasingly deploying curses and profanity in the House of Commons.

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Labour strategists insist they don’t plan to make a habit of Starmer’s swearing
in parliament | Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images
January 30, 2024 4:01 am CET
By Annabelle Dickson

LONDON — Britain’s politicians can’t seem to stop swearing. The British public
don’t like it.

The air around the famous green benches of the House of Commons is turning
increasingly blue these days as MPs — and their House of Lords counterparts —
indulge in record levels of cursing in speeches and debates. Others have been
left squirming after their muttered profanities from the backbenches were caught
on a hot-mic.

Britain’s straight-laced opposition leader Keir Starmer — the favorite to become
prime minister later this year — added his own expletive to the record last week
when he used his appearance at prime minister’s questions to repeat an anonymous
briefing to a newspaper which had described the government’s childcare policy as
a “shitshow.”

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Labour strategists insist they don’t plan to make a habit of Starmer’s swearing
in parliament, noting the phrase was pulled from the front page of the Times.

But Starmer’s profanity was very much on trend. Data from Hansard, the official
parliamentary record, show politicians’ usage of words such as “shit” and “fuck”
have soared in recent years.

Only weeks earlier, Home Secretary James Cleverly was accused by another MP of
having described the English town of Stockton as a “shit hole” during another
session of PMQs. Cleverly denied the specific claim, although admitted using
“inappropriate language” in the chamber.



For some, the increasing use of foul language in parliament is a sign of the
times.

“I think the swearing is just a by-product to match the ridiculousness of
British politics in recent years,” said Scottish National Party MP Mhairi Black,
who was herself told to watch her language in parliament last year by House of
Commons Deputy Speaker Rosie Winterton.


Black received a dressing-down after claiming Tories were “pished”— a Scottish
slur meaning drunk — during the Covid lockdown. It was the first recorded use of
the word in Hansard’s long history. 

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Tory Brexiteer MP Michael Fabricant — who famously shouted “bollocks” at a
pro-EU colleague in the Commons chamber during a 2016 debate — insists swear
words can be effective tools for MPs to deploy.

“Keir Starmer’s swearing sounds contrived and read from a script — but
occasional expressions of frustration can be effective,” Fabricant says.

Though he cautions: “Like anything, too much swearing — apart from being
offensive — devalues the commodity.”


RULES OF THE GAME

There are, in fact, curbs on MPs’ vocabulary under the rules governing U.K.
parliamentary debate. 

Using “unparliamentary language” can break the rules of politeness in the House
of Commons, and MPs can be asked to withdraw their comment immediately by the
Commons Speaker.

“Coward,” “git” and “guttersnipe” are among the words to which different
Speakers have objected over the years, according to the U.K. parliament website.

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But MPs are allowed to swear without sanction if quoting others — and while
some, like Starmer, may use this loophole to slip in a profanity to score
political points, others have deployed such vocabulary for far graver
reasons.   

The word “cunt” — perceived by the public as among the most offensive swearwords
available — has made it onto the parliamentary record three times, all of them
in the last six years.

Tellingly, both MPs to have used the word — Tory MP Andrew Percy, and Mhairi
Black — were illustrating some of the abuse they had received while doing their
jobs. In the House of Lords, Tory peer Anne Jenkin used the same word to
describe the language used against a Conservative parliamentary candidate during
a debate on social media.

“Fuck” — also deemed highly offensive — has made it onto the parliamentary
record 13 times, nine of those since 2017. Each time the MP or peer had been
quoting others, often to recount verbal abuse. 


SWEAR WITH CARE

But MPs who deploy strong or fruity language for more frivolous reasons should
swear with care, those monitoring public opinion caution. 

“The public can understand the odd slip of the tongue in frustration — most
people accept that politicians are only human,” says Luke Tryl, director of the
More in Common consultancy, which conducts focus groups around the U.K.

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But he warns: “The public have no time for those MPs who deliberately or
gratuitously swear — the most common response to that sort of behavior from MPs
is ‘imagine if I did that in my workplace, I’d lose my job!’ MPs who can swear,
or otherwise behave badly, without consequence are seen as another example of
‘one rule for them’.”

“Parliament has become a slightly more informal place over the years, which you
could argue is probably the right approach,” notes one former political adviser,
granted anonymity because they were not authorized to to speak publicly in their
new role.

But they agreed that in general, the public “quite like it to be kept clean.”

“I think people like a straight talker, but don’t necessarily think they would
get away with swearing in the workplace. So why should MPs?”

On current trends, it’s a question that will be posed frequently in the months
ahead.

Related Tags
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Related Countries
United Kingdom
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Andrew Percy James Cleverly MP Keir Starmer Lindsay Hoyle Mhairi Black Michael
Fabricant


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