John Bercow puts George Osborne in his place: 'Chancellor sit down man'
The Speaker of the House of Commons was not in the mood to be disobeyed by the Chancellor
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Your support makes all the difference.John Bercow is enjoying his sixth year as Speaker of the House of Commons, slapping down MPs for overly-long answers, and even taking a shot at the Chancellor.
With George Osborne answering Treasury questions just a few weeks after the first Conservative budget in 19 years, Mr Bercow became infuriated by the Chancellor's decision to veer off course and instead talk about the troubles within the Labour party.
The Chancellor had been talking about apprenticeship levies and infrastructure when he decided to instead reference a tweet Labour MP Barry Sheerman had sent.
"As he acknowledged this morning in an interesting tweet I think it was," the Chancellor said, "the Labour party is going back to the 1980s in his words. And unfortunately the sensible voices of the old intakes are being drowned out by the new intake."
But Mr Osborne could not continue any further down his line of Labour bashing as Mr Bercow had had enough.
Earlier this month, Mr Bercow told Greg Mulholland, a Liberal Democrat, not “to argue the toss with the chair”.
“The Hon Gentlemen will resume his seat. It’s a discourtesy to the House to be long-winded, especially when exhorted not to be,” he told the MP, who was in the middle of spekaing.
Mr Mullholland, who represents Leeds North West, took issue with the instructions, but before he could finish his protest Mr Bercow added:
“Order! Don’t argue the toss with the chair, Mr Mulholland, don’t shake your head, mate. I’m telling you what the position is: you were too long.”