Britain: Vitriol in the Commons

Vitriol in the Commons

"I was on holiday at the time," Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher told the House of Commons last week as opposition M.P.s jeered. It was a rare attempt by the Iron Lady to skirt responsibility, and Labor Party Leader Neil Kinnock challenged her explanation. Four times the Prime Minister, shouting, demanded that he withdraw his remarks; four times Kinnock refused. "Frankly," he told the House, "I do not believe her. The domineering style of her government forbids the belief that she was not involved in an issue as important as this."

The issue was the government's decision last August to prosecute Clive...

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