Harriet Harman blasts George Osborne for distasteful PMQs joke

When George Osborne covered for David Cameron at PMQs last month, it was seen as his chance to prove to his critics that he was prime ministerial material. Alas, his attempt at a joke about Labour’s Bennites in answer to a question from Hilary Benn about suicide bombers has hit a particularly sour note with Labour.

When Mr S caught up with Harriet Harman at The Spectator‘s summer party, the departing deputy leader was quick to criticise Osborne for joking about Benn’s late father Tony Benn, the former Cabinet minster:

‘I mean that thing he did with Hilary Benn where he said something about Tony Benn having died and I thought that’s generous and nice — and then he said “but there’s lots of Bennites in the Labour leadership” which was clearly an attacking point and I thought to use a recently dead person to a bereaved son which has nothing to do with it. So he crowbarred in a dead father to a bereaved son in order to make a terrible point.