New Times,
New Thinking.

  1. Politics
30 April 2014updated 28 Jun 2021 4:45am

The Returning Officer: Camels II

By Stephen Brasher

In October 1932, there was a House of Commons debate on import duties. Barnett Janner, the Liberal MP for Whitechapel and St George’s, who had been gassed in the First World War, declared that the tax on grapefruit was “the last straw on the camel’s back”.

Leslie Hale, the Labour MP for Oldham and Oldham West (1945-68), mentioned camels seven times in his parliamentary career. For example, in a 1955 debate, he said that the then chancellor, Rab Butler, had been seen as an intellectual oasis in a “desert of frontbench mediocrity” but was now respected by fewer of the “backbench camels”. 

Content from our partners
Wayne Robertson: "The science is clear on the need for carbon capture"
An old Rioja, a simple Claret,and a Burgundy far too nice to put in risotto
Antimicrobial Resistance: Why urgent action is needed

Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month