Government minister Johnny Mercer criticised for comparing Labour’s new MP in Selby and Ainsty to The Inbetweeners
Veterans minister Johnny Mercer has been accused of being “disrespectful” to new Labour MP Keir Mather, after comparing him to a character from The Inbetweeners.
Mr Mercer made the comments during Sky’s special overnight coverage of the by-elections.
Keir Mather, 25, won the previous Conservative stronghold of Selby and Ainsty for Labour by overturning a majority of 20,000.
At 25, he will become the so-called ‘Baby of the House’ – the youngest member of the House of Commons.
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Asked by deputy political editor Sam Coates whether he welcomed “an injection of youth into parliament”, Mr Mercer replied: “I think it’s always good to get new people in politics, but I think we mustn’t become a repeat of The Inbetweeners”.
The Inbetweeners is a TV comedy series that was also made into a number of films, which follows a group of awkward teenage friends as they enter adulthood.
Asked what he meant by the comparison, Mr Mercer said: “You’ve got to have people who have actually done stuff. This guy has been at Oxford University more than he’s been in a job.
“You put a chip in him there and he just relays Labour lines, and the problem is people have kind of had enough of that.
“They want people who are authentic. People who have worked in that constituency, who know what life is like, understand what life is like to live, work and raise a family in communities like theirs.
“I’m afraid I don’t agree with this style of politics.
“It’s exactly why people like me couldn’t vote in the 2015 election, because you’ve got people with nothing to do with the constituency just dropped in – put a chip in them and they’ll start parroting Labour Party politics.”
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Later, the comments were put to Labour’s Baroness Chapman, who accused Mr Mercer of being “disrespectful” to the people of Selby and Ainsty, who yesterday elected Mr Mather as their representative.
“There is such a thing as being gracious in defeat, Johnny,” she said.
She added: “How rude are you today? You need to get some sleep.”
Baroness Chapman said the comments were ‘disrespectful’
Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said the Conservatives “need to read the room”, telling Sky News: “To name call newly elected members in parliament shows the contempt they have not only for the elected member but the votes too.”
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Tory party chairman Greg Hands stopped short of directly criticising his colleague, but said young people have an important role to play in politics.
Asked if Mr Mercer’s comment was inappropriate, Mr Hands said: “I think we should welcome young people in politics.
“We have a good range of MPs in the Conservative Party from young people in their twenties, all the way to older people also with amazing experience… But clearly there’s also a role for young people to go into politics.”
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Sir Keir Starmer has said the next election will be an “open fight” between Labour and Reform UK.
The prime minister, speaking at a conference alongside the leaders of Canada, Australia and Iceland, said the UK is “at a crossroads”.
“There’s a battle for the soul of this country, now, as to what sort of country do we want to be?” he said.
“Because that toxic divide, that decline with Reform, it’s built on a sense of grievance.”
It is the first time Sir Keir has explicitly said the next election would be a straight fight between his party and Reform – and comes the day before the Labour conference begins.
Just hours before, after Sky News revealed Nigel Farage is on course to replace him, as a seat-by-seat YouGov poll found an election held tomorrow would result in a hung parliament, with Reform winning 311 seats – just 15 short of the 326 needed to win overall.
Once the Speaker, whose seat is unopposed, and Sinn Fein MPs, who do not sit in parliament, are accounted for, no other party would be able to secure more MPs, so Reform would lead the government.
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Sir Keir said there is a “right-wing proposition” the UK has not had before, as it has been decades of either a Labour or Tory government, “pitched usually pretty much on the centrepiece of politics, the centre ground of politics”.
The PM said Reform and its leader, Mr Farage, provide a “very different proposition” of “patriotic national renewal” under Labour and a “toxic divide”.
He described his Labour government of being “capable of expressing who and what we are as a country accurately and in a way where people feel they’re valued and they belong, and that we can actually move forward together”.
Sir Keir referenced a march down Whitehall two weeks ago, organised by Tommy Robinson, as having “sent shivers through the spines of many communities well away from London”.
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The PM said Reform presents a ‘toxic divide
The prime minister said the choice for voters at the next election, set to be in 2029, “is not going to be the traditional Labour versus Conservative”.
“It’s why I’ve said the Conservative Party is dead,” he added.
“Centre-right parties in many European countries have withered on the vine and the same is happening in this country.”
Reacting to Sir Keir’s comments, a Reform UK spokesman said: “For decades, the British people have been betrayed by both Labour and the Conservatives.
“People have voted election after election for lower taxes and controlled immigration, instead, both parties have done the opposite.
“The public are now waking up to the fact Starmer is just continuing the Tory legacy of high taxes and mass immigration.”
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