I'm not going to deny it's a poor advert (PMQs especially) for our government, but can we stop banging on about the MP's education.
Where someone was educated should be irrelevant. I'm not arguing against diversity of background, simply that someone's background shouldn't be used against them as they have very little say in it.
I'm sure it would be considered bad taste to rebut Michael Gove's positions (and some of them do need rebutting) with "what he says is wrong because he was adopted".
I wasn't referring to anyone's education. Many MPs are women, many were educated in state schools and those that went to public schools probably didn't behave like that these days or at any time since the 18th / 19th century. But if you know your parliamentary history, you will recall it has often been referred to as an Elitist Men's Club.
The behaviour, like most of Westminster is simply based upon those values.
The principal of Parliament has always been to retain things until they are found to be in need of change. That is why so many apparently silly customs remain such as turning to face the seats during the daily prayers. The daily prayers. Doffing caps. The Speaker resisting taking his seats, slamming the door on Black Rod. The list goes on and on.
In a way, it's a good thing, however archaic. It means that change doesn't happen for its own sake.
The problems arise when change is clearly needed, yet simply doesn't happen.
Currently, debates in Parliament tend to raucous affairs with cat calling and snide remarks. There are rules of course, but these are applied selectively. MPs should not clap, but it is done frequently and only SNP MPs have been pulled up over it.. MPs must never call any other MP a liar, though IDS got away with calling Tony Blair a liar when he was leader of the Tory opposition and Blair was PM.
The cat call in the OP toward Corbyn is par for the course. As an experienced MP, Corbyn knows that, yet he was clearly flustered and stumped.
If Corbyn is serious about bringing in a new politics, as he says, then he is going to need to get some better advice and support. His own PMs were laughing.
But as I asked in the OP, how much longer will this guy survive?