Oliver Dowden, while no one would mistake him for an intellectual heavy hitter, trotted out the same tired excuse that is now the norm in our political system of no consequences. Lee Anderson’s comments were, he said, a “poor choice of words”.
The “poor choice of words” bin must be getting rather full now. After all, Suella Braverman already made similarly distasteful comments regarding homelessness as a “lifestyle choice”, and Tory darling Boris Johnson has a long list of racist comments, from Muslim “letter boxes” to African “piccaninnies”.
Go a little further back and there was Ben Bradley, who, while serving under Theresa May, said benefits claimants should have vasectomies.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies