Ross Clark Ross Clark

What James Daly’s parenting jibe says about the Tories

James Daly (Credit: PA images)

I am guessing that Tory MP James Daly has given up trying to defend his majority of 105 in Bury North, has accepted that he will need to find a new job in the next 12 months and has decided to go out in style. I can’t think why else he would say, in an interview with the i newspaper, ‘When you think about the family, it’s about stability. Most of the kids who struggle in Bury are the products of crap parents and so what do we do to try to address that issue?’

He must surely know how his words will be used: that they will follow him around for the rest of his time in parliament, that they will be used to portray him as a heartless, Alan B’Stard character, that they will be used over and over again in the coming election campaign as representing the moment, supposedly, when a backbench MP let slip the Conservatives are, at heart, still the Nasty Party.

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