[Crimson Dynamo]

• Tory MP was referring to the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
• This was the name for the north African country of Libya under Colonel Gaddafi
• Desperate Labour MPs accused him of insensitivity for making the remark at fringe event

Leading Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg last night called an African country 'the people's republic of jam jar or something' at a packed meeting of the Tory Party conference.

The Conservative MP was referring to the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, which was the name of Libya under its late leader Colonel Gaddafi.

He was warning against the perils of a second Brexit referendum - dubbed a 'people's vote - and said anything with the title people's in it has the whiff of totalitarianism.

He said: 'All the countries who are least interested in their people call themselves "people's", don't they?

'So the People's Republic of China? Oh, that's communist.

'And the People's Republic of…jam jar, or something like that, of Libya, was what it was called when Colonel Gaddafi was in charge.'



He made the remark while addressing a packed-out fringe meting hosted by Brexit Central at the conference in Birmingham last night.

Around 500 party activists flooded into the hall to listen to Mr Rees-Mogg and several other Tory MPs rail against Theresa May'a Brexit Chequers plan.

But Mr Rees-Mogg has been criticised for making the remark at the meeting - with Labour MPs accusing him of insensitivity.

Alex Sobel, a Labour MP and Remain activist with the Best for Britain group, took aim at the MP for North East Somerset.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...something.html

[arista]

Yes Libya is a mess
Corrupt power

[bots]

Robinsons have a lot to answer for

[smudgie]

Jam jar

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by bitontheslide

Robinsons have a lot to answer for

[Oliver_W]

To be fair, who can remember every country in the world, especially those dippy enough to oxymoronically had both great and socialist in their name...

[Oliver_W]

JRM is basically a Wodehouse character brought to life though.

That reminds me - Alf, have you watched Jeeves and Wooster yet?

[joeysteele]

I wouldn't see what he said as offensive or even insulting.
I disagree with just about all of his politics however, he's not usually insulting to people or Nations, he rarely gets personal from what I've seen and heard as to him.
To be fair, it sounds an off the cuff harmless comment from him.

[Crimson Dynamo]

Originally Posted by joeysteele

I wouldn't see what he said as offensive or even insulting.
I disagree with just about all of his politics however, he's not usually insulting to people or Nations, he rarely gets personal from what I've seen and heard as to him.
To be fair, it sounds an off the cuff harmless comment from him.

Agreed, in many ways he was dismissing the pathetic attempt by Gadaffi to pretend he had a country at all and not just a group of people living in fear of death 24/7

[joeysteele]

Originally Posted by LeatherTrumpet

Agreed, in many ways he was dismissing the pathetic attempt by Gadaffi to pretend he had a country at all and not just a group of people living in fear of death 24/7

I think that's true and a fair assessment.

[Withano]

Tories give me migraines.

[Zizu]

Originally Posted by Withano

Tories give me migraines.

This bloke is a complete joke though




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[Crimson Dynamo]

Originally Posted by Zizu

This bloke is a complete joke though




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He is a very successful businessman, family man and politician

so what metric are you using?

[Zizu]

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[Zizu]

Originally Posted by LeatherTrumpet

He is a very successful businessman, family man and politician



so what metric are you using?

He's like a character off the Fast Show


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[arista]

He is Very Polite

[Crimson Dynamo]

Yes and never swears

[Livia]

He was referring to Libya under Gaddafi. It's a sh1t hole now, and it was a sh1t hole then.

[bots]

i remember working with some Libyans 20+ years ago, and at that time it was common for people to get hauled out of supermarkets at gunpoint and taken away. It's been a terror zone for decades.

[Nicky91]

Originally Posted by LeatherTrumpet

Yes and never swears

so does our Geert Wilders, never swears either but he's also a complete racist to foreigners and african/middle-eastern country their problems

[user104658]

Originally Posted by LeatherTrumpet

He is a very successful businessman, family man and politician

His family goes back (as being extremely, extremely wealthy) to AT LEAST the 1600's, he might as well be of royal lineage, so to be frank we have absolutely no idea who he is or isn't as an individual, and no idea what he would be doing if he'd actually had to fight for one iota of it. Maybe he would still be successful? Sure. But I'm hesitant to heap much praise on someone who had the guarantee of a successful life from the second of their conception. It's not impressive. It's just "a thing that is". To be a little bit scathing, all things considered he's actually only "doing OK" thus far, and a lot of his political celebrity is down to little more than the quirky name and the impossibly posh accent. If he was called "Robert Smith" and looked like Gordon Brown, no one would be interested .

[Nicky91]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

His family goes back (as being extremely, extremely wealthy) to AT LEAST the 1600's, he might as well be of royal lineage, so to be frank we have absolutely no idea who he is or isn't as an individual, and no idea what he would be doing if he'd actually had to fight for one iota of it. Maybe he would still be successful? Sure. But I'm hesitant to heap much praise on someone who had the guarantee of a successful life from the second of their conception. It's not impressive. It's just "a thing that is". To be a little bit scathing, all things considered he's actually only "doing OK" thus far, and a lot of his political celebrity is down to little more than the quirky name and the impossibly posh accent. If he was called "Robert Smith" and looked like Gordon Brown, no one would be interested .

he isn't self made, and his success story doesn't feel that inspiring either, as for his political career, well making remarks about other countries is just mocking them, that to me comes over as racist

and i think this what you say TS also confirms the story of people calling the Tories the party of the rich

[Livia]

Originally Posted by Nicky91

he isn't self made, and his success story doesn't feel that inspiring either, as for his political career, well making remarks about other countries is just mocking them, that to me comes over as racist

and i think this what you say TS also confirms the story of people calling the Tories the party of the rich

Well, he was right about Libya.

[Nicky91]

Originally Posted by Livia

Well, he was right about Libya.

yeah but there were many libyan citizens who had suffered under Gaddafi, i think they don't like that this awful thing is brought up again

[Livia]

Originally Posted by Nicky91

yeah but there were many libyan citizens who had suffered under Gaddafi, i think they don't like that this awful thing is brought up again

I think the comments of a foreign politician is the least of their worries.