Gordon Brown is a Very Small Man

Gordon Brown is a Very Small Man

Iain Dale 11:27 AM

Doesn't THIS shoddy tale tell you all you need to know about the lack of dignity of our Prime Minister?

Boris Johnson bumped for Harriet Harman

Posted By: Rosa Prince at Feb 4, 2009 at 11:49:38 [General]

Posted in: Politics , Three Line Whip

Tags:

Boris Johnson, Damilola Taylor, Gordon Brown, Harriet Harman, Home Affairs Select Committee

It all got a bit nasty after Boris Johnson's appearance before the Home Affairs Select Committee.

Gordon Brown's Official Spokesman effectively accused the Mayor of lying to Parliament, while Boris stuck to his guns and insisted the story of being moved from the front row of the memorial service for Damilola Taylor at the Prime Minister's request was true.

The details of the alleged snub are even more grave.

As Mayor, Boris had been asked by the family to deliver a reading at the service, along with David Cameron and Gordo himself, and fully expected that the three would be seated together up front.

In the event, when the seating plan was re-jigged the night before the service, it turned out that Boris hadn't just been bumped - he'd been bumped to make way for Harriet Harman. The indignity.

And not only that, while the Mayor was forced to slum it in the cheap seats (squeezed in between Sir Paul Stephenson and Simon Hughes in row two, I'm told) Tory insiders claim that the PM also insisted that Hattie be seated between him and Dave.

So loathe was Brown to engage in the kind of awkward small talk which enlivens the preamble to the Queen's Speech that the Leader of the Opposition was apparently asked to shuffle along the pew so that Harman could be the meat in a strange Dave/Gordon sandwich. Shudder.