The Most Memorable Moments from the House Of Commons

Perhaps the grandest stage of them all, the House of Commons has played host to some of the most generation-defining moments of the last 750 years, so naturally there’s one of two worth sharing. I’ve decided to keep this list as current as possible; after all, 750 years of debates would take a long time to go through…

Hilary Benn’s Speech on Airstrikes in Syria 

“They hold us in contempt… In contempt!” Benn’s speech had an air of Churchill about it; one almost expected a fanfare to ring out across the Commons and cavalrymen to charge in once he’d finished speaking. His speech was one of the most passionate, compelling and spine-tingling speeches of recent years. He showed the marks of a true leader – he was able to stand defiantly against even his own party and address the most inhospitable of issues with integrity and decorum. At the end of it, he took his seat next to a rather peeved looking Jeremy Corbyn whilst the rest of the Commons erupted into applause with cries of “brilliant” and “outstanding” from other MPs.

Gordon Brown Saves the World

An embarrassing slip of the tongue for the then-Prime Minister, who accidentally claimed he’d saved the world, rather than the banks. Although, to be fair to him, his speech was a bit of a tongue twister. Following his slip-up the opposition bench erupted into a ruckus, guffawing uncontrollably in light of the Speaker’s mousey pleading for order.

The Mothers Row 

https://youtu.be/kct1oiA0Zv0

Perhaps superimposing a David Attenborough documentary over this clip would be an accurate way to describe this savagely trivial encounter between Cameron and Corbyn. Although encouraged by shadow foreign secretary Angela Eagle, who shouted across to Cameron “ask your mother”, the Prime Minister’s intimate attack was still incredibly unprofessional and uncalled for.

Dodgy Dave

Famous for never missing a Commons session, Dennis Skinner can always be trusted to speak his mind and in this example, he said exactly what the rest of us are thinking. As Ed Miliband so sardonically put it a few years ago, “he’s a dodgy Prime Minister surrounded by dodgy donors,” – as well as a dodgy tax book, too.