What are the rules on unparliamentary language – and which MPs have broken them?
Home Secretary James Cleverly been accused of calling the town of Stockton-on-Tees a “s**thole” in the Commons.
A source close to him denied this but admitted he called the area’s Labour MP “s***”.
The debacle comes weeks after reports he called the government’s Rwanda policy “bats***”.
Unparliamentary language is defined as anything that “breaks the rules of politeness of the House of Commons chamber”.
While MPs are disciplined for swearing during debates, convention also bans them from calling their colleagues liars or accusing them of being drunk, among other things.
Traditionally, some have used euphemisms to get around the rules – most famously Sir Winston Churchill when he said someone had told a “terminological exactitude” instead of a lie.
When politicians use words deemed unparliamentary, the speaker will either ask them to withdraw them, or if they refuse, leave the chamber.
Mhairi Black
First MP to say ‘c***’ in the Commons
The SNP’s Mhairi Black became the first MP in history to use the word “c***” in the Commons chamber in 2018.
Then the youngest-sitting MP – at 23 years old – she was detailing some of the misogynistic abuse she regularly received on social media.
Despite using the word, she was not disciplined as she was only quoting someone else’s use of it – and was not levelling it at one of her colleagues.
Read more:
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Anna Soubry
‘Sanctimonious c***’
Former Conservative MP Anna Soubry was accused of calling Labour’s Ed Miliband a “sanctimonious c***” during a debate in 2015.
It was filmed for a BBC documentary but not used in the final edit.
However when allegations surfaced she furiously denied it, saying: “I would never use that word and I would never use it in the House of Commons.”
Ed Miliband
‘Dodgy’ and ‘hooliganism’
Ed Miliband has himself been in trouble for his use of language.
He escaped discipline when he called David Cameron a “dodgy prime minister surrounded by dodgy donors”.
Five years later in 2020, as shadow business secretary, he accused Boris Johnson of “legislative hooliganism” for supporting the Internal Markets Bill.
Although the word hooligan is banned, he was not reprimanded.
Tom Watson
‘Miserable pipsqueak of a man’
During his time as an MP, Tom Watson lost his temper when then education secretary Michael Gove revealed he was shelving nine school building projects in his constituency.
He described Mr Gove as a “miserable pipsqueak of a man” – and was asked to withdraw his comments.
Tony Marlow, former Conservative MP
‘Stupid cow’
Former speaker Betty Boothroyd ruled that Conservative MP Tony Marlow had used unparliamentary language by calling Labour MP Harriet Harman a “stupid cow” during a debate on the BSE epidemic of 1996.
Ms Harman has since commented on the misogynism she has faced during her career in politics.
Penny Mordaunt
‘C**k, lay and laid’ in poultry welfare speech
Former minister Penny Mordaunt was accused of trivialising parliament in 2014 when she used the words “c**k”, “lay” and “laid” multiple times during a speech on poultry welfare.
She later revealed in a newspaper interview that her fellow Navy reservists had dared her to do it.
Dawn Butler
Kicked out for calling PM a liar
Labour MP Dawn Butler was ordered to leave the Commons when she refused to withdraw accusations that Boris Johnson was a liar in 2021.
She claimed that the then-PM had “lied to the House and the country over and over again” – about economic growth and public sector salaries among other things.
Crypto-friendly billionaire investor Bill Ackman is considering the possibility that US President Donald Trump may pause the implementation of his controversial proposed tariffs on April 7.
“One would have to imagine that President Donald Trump’s phone has been ringing off the hook. The practical reality is that there is insufficient time for him to make deals before the tariffs are scheduled to take effect,” Ackman, founder of Pershing Square Capital Management, said in an April 5 X post.
Trump may postpone tariffs to make more deals, says Ackman
“I would, therefore, not be surprised to wake up Monday with an announcement from the President that he was postponing the implementation of the tariffs to give him time to make deals,” Ackman added.
On April 2, Trump signed an executive order establishing a 10% baseline tariff on all imports from all countries, which took effect on April 5. Harsher reciprocal tariffs on trading partners with which the US has the largest trade deficits are scheduled to kick in on April 9.
Ackman — who famously said “crypto is here to stay” after the FTX collapse in November 2022 — said Trump captured the attention of the world and US trading partners, backing the tariffs as necessary after what he called an “unfair tariff regime” that hurt US workers and economy “over many decades.”
Following Trump’s announcement on April 2, the US stock market shed more value during the April 4 trading session than the entire crypto market is currently worth. The fact that crypto held up better than the US stock market caught the attention of both crypto industry supporters and skeptics.
Source: Cameron Winklevoss
Prominent crypto voices such as BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes and Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss also recently showed their support for Trump’s tariffs.
Related: Trump tariffs squeeze already struggling Bitcoin miners — Braiins exec
Ackman said a pause would be a logical move by Trump — not just to allow time for closing potential deals but also to give companies of all sizes “time to prepare for changes.” He added:
“The risk of not doing so is that the massive increase in uncertainty drives the economy into a recession, potentially a severe one.”
Ackman said April 7 will be “one of the more interesting days” in US economic history.
Magazine: New ‘MemeStrategy’ Bitcoin firm by 9GAG, jailed CEO’s $3.5M bonus: Asia Express
Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, marks their 50th birthday amid a year of rising institutional and geopolitical adoption of the world’s first cryptocurrency.
The identity of Nakamoto remains one of the biggest mysteries in crypto, with speculation ranging from cryptographers like Adam Back and Nick Szabo to broader theories involving government intelligence agencies.
While Nakamoto’s identity remains anonymous, the Bitcoin (BTC) creator is believed to have turned 50 on April 5 based on details shared in the past.
According to archived data from his P2P Foundation profile, Nakamoto once claimed to be a 37-year-old man living in Japan and listed his birthdate as April 5, 1975.
Source: Web.archive.org
Nakamoto’s anonymity has played a vital role in maintaining the decentralized nature of the Bitcoin network, which has no central authority or leadership.
The Bitcoin wallet associated with Nakamoto, which holds over 1 million BTC, has laid dormant for more than 16 years despite BTC rising from $0 to an all-time high above $109,000 in January.
Satoshi Nakamoto statue in Lugano, Switzerland. Source: Cointelegraph
Nakamoto’s 50th birthday comes nearly a month after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order creating a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a Digital Asset Stockpile, marking the first major step toward integrating Bitcoin into the US financial system.
Related: Bitcoin at 16: From experiment to trillion-dollar asset
Nakamoto’s legacy: a “cornerstone of economic sovereignty”
“At 50, Nakamoto’s legacy is no longer just code; it’s a cornerstone of economic sovereignty,” according to Anndy Lian, author and intergovernmental blockchain expert.
“Bitcoin’s reserve status signals trust in its scarcity and resilience,” Lian told Cointelegraph, adding:
“What’s fascinating is the timing. Fifty feels symbolic — half a century of life, mirrored by Bitcoin’s journey from a white paper to a trillion-dollar asset. Nakamoto’s vision of trustless, peer-to-peer money has outgrown its cypherpunk roots, entering the halls of power.”
However, lingering questions about Nakamoto remain unanswered, including whether they still hold the keys to their wallet, which is “a fortune now tied to US policy,” Lian said.
Related: Bitcoin’s next catalyst: End of $36T US debt ceiling suspension
Is Satoshi Nakamoto wealthier than Bill Gates?
In February, Arkham Intelligence published findings that attribute 1.096 million BTC — then valued at more than $108 billion — to Nakamoto. That would place him above Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on the global wealth rankings, according to data shared by Coinbase director Conor Grogan.
Satoshi’s new addresses. Source: Conor Grogan
If accurate, this would make Nakamoto the world’s 16th richest person.
Despite the growing interest in Nakamoto’s identity and holdings, his early decision to remain anonymous and inactive has helped preserve Bitcoin’s decentralized ethos — a principle that continues to define the cryptocurrency to this day.
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