DEANO When Boris treats the Commons like this, he shits on you

THE greatest PMs of the last 100 years have all treated the House of Commons with respect. Churchill, Thatcher, Attlee. They all had the deepest regard for Parliament and with good reason. The House of Commons, the assembly of elected MPs from across our country, is where a PM’s powers come from.

Prime Ministers are allowed to serve if they command a majority in the Commons – a majority of MPs elected by the people.

It’s a nice little concept called democracy.

Although I’ve often lamented the many, many failings of our MPs, what they represent counts for far more than their individual characters.

When a PM treats the Commons with contempt, they treat every voter with contempt.

The rot started with Blair who was a hopeless Commons performer.

He may have been in his element at a stage- managed bash packed with party hacks.

But in the rough and tumble of the Chamber he was all at sea, frequently bested by John Major.

One of the reasons Blair went down to just one Prime Ministers’ Questions a week, rather than the traditional two.

Boris only needed one PMQs last week to show he regards the Commons as less important than the new series of I’m A Celebrity.

Respect

His clashes with the Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, may have made great telly but they showed that Boris can’t give a tinker’s cuss for the Commons and its officers – and by extension, all of us.

How on earth is the country going to respect the Commons if the Prime Minister does not respect it? The Commons is important. Thousands of people have died to ensure the Commons, the representatives of the electorate, is the powerhouse of our state.

Were it not for those struggles, we would not have nice little old Queenie opening fetes.

We’d have a ruthless, bloated tyrant on the throne, chopping people’s heads off as they felt fit. It comes down to that.

The Commons is our centuriesold, tried and tested bulwark against dictatorship.

There may be individual MPs – maybe a lot of them – who steal, cheat, lie and line their pockets.

There are quite a few more who seem to lack the wit to wipe their own bottoms.

But the vast majority are hardworking, dedicated public servants.

In very recent times, two have been killed while serving their local communities. When Boris treats the Commons as a joke, as a schoolboy jape, what does that say about how he honours the memory of David Amess and Jo Cox?

Yes, the PM has, in the past, made us giggle.

But his contempt for the Commons and, by extension, the British people is no laughing matter.

In fact, it’s a f** king disgrace.