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Another foot-in-mouth Tory

Lord Young of Graffham’s bout of foot-in-mouth disease came just one month after the government announced its deepest public spending cuts

Another foot-in-mouth Tory

Lord Young | Tim Ireland/PA Photos/Keystone Press Agency

A top British Conservative and adviser to Prime Minister David Cameron was forced to quit his post last week after claiming that, in this “so-called recession,” most Britons have “never had it so good.” Lord Young of Graffham’s bout of foot-in-mouth disease came just one month after the government announced its deepest public spending cuts since the Second World War, slicing about $134 billion through 2015. But speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Lord Young opined that, when they look back on spending cuts, “people will wonder what all the fuss was about,” arguing that a drop in mortgage rates had actually left many better off.

It’s not the first time a Tory has made such a verbal faux pas. In February, for example, long-standing MP Sir Nicholas Winterton (who’s since retired) sparked outrage after saying that MPs should be allowed to travel first class on trains to avoid the masses. “They are a totally different type of people,” he said. Even before he was appointed in May, Cameron worked hard to make the Tories seem less elitist. The prime minister was quick to distance himself from Lord Young’s comments, saying, “I think he’ll be doing a bit less speaking in the future.”

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