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	<title>Barnum&#039;s circus Archives - Richard M. Langworth</title>
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	<description>Senior Fellow, Hillsdale College Churchill Project, Writer and Historian</description>
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		<title>“Boneless Wonder” vs. “Dodgy Dave”</title>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Richard M. Langworth]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 20 Apr 2016 16:10:20 +0000</pubDate>
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		<category><![CDATA[In the News]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Winston S. Churchill]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Barnum's circus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Boneless Wonder]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[David Cameron]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dennis Skinner]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dodgy Dave]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[House of Commons]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Bercow]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Question Time]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ramsay MacDonald]]></category>
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					<description><![CDATA["I remember when I was a child, being taken to the celebrated Barnum’s circus, which contained an exhibition of freaks and monstrosities, but the exhibit on the programme which I most desired to see was the one described as 'The Boneless Wonder.' My parents judged that that spectacle would be too revolting and demoralising for my youthful eyes, and I have waited 50 years to see the Boneless Wonder sitting on the Treasury Bench." —WSC, 1931]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A colleague asks: “Why was Winston Churchill able to get away with calling Prime Minister <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramsay_MacDonald">Ramsay MacDonald</a> the “Boneless Wonder”? Just last week a Labour MP was sent home by the Speaker. He had called Prime Minister <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Cameron">David Cameron</a> “Dodgy Dave.”</p>
<p>Good question! Ah for the likes of Question Time in the U.S. Congress. Then a Mister or Madam President would get to be grilled with all the famous gusto of the House of Commons.</p>
<h2><strong>Dodgy: 11 April 2016&nbsp;</strong></h2>
<figure id="attachment_4185" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-4185" style="width: 284px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://richardlangworth.com/boneless-wonder-vs-dodgy-dave/imgres-14" rel="attachment wp-att-4185"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-4185" src="https://richardlangworth.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/imgres.jpg" alt="boneless" width="284" height="177"></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-4185" class="wp-caption-text">Mr. Skinner fires all barrels at Mr. Cameron.</figcaption></figure>
<p>Eighty-four-year-old <a href="http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/10544/dennis_skinner/bolsover">Dennis Skinner</a> (Lab., Bolsover) was ejected from the House of Commons by the Speaker, John Bercow. Skinner refused to withdraw, in fact repeated, the term “Dodgy Dave,” with respect to David Cameron.</p>
<p>Amidst cries of “chuck him out!”&nbsp;the Speaker asked Skinner to “withdraw the adjective.” “The Beast of Bolsover” (so named for his flaming attacks on Conservatives) replied: “This man has done more to defy this nation than anybody else. He’s looked after his own profit. I still refer to him as ‘Dodgy Dave.'” And out he went. You can <a href="https://duckduckgo.com/?q=youtube+dennis+skinner+dodgey+dave&amp;t=brave&amp;iax=videos&amp;ia=videos&amp;iai=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DqvIUa47x_Oc">watch the whole jolly episode here</a>.</p>
<h2>Boneless:&nbsp;<strong>28 January 1931</strong></h2>
<p class="p1">Fifty-six-year-old Winston Churchill (Cons., Epping) deplored the lack of courage over a&nbsp;bill about to be quietly set aside by Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald’s&nbsp;&nbsp;Labour Government:</p>
<p class="p1" style="padding-left: 40px;">I remember when I was a child, being taken to the celebrated Barnum’s circus, which contained an exhibition of freaks and monstrosities, but the exhibit on the programme which I most desired to see was the one described as “The Boneless Wonder.” My parents judged that that spectacle would be too revolting and demoralising for my youthful eyes, and I have waited 50 years to see the Boneless Wonder sitting on the Treasury Bench.</p>
<p class="p1">You’ve probably guessed the difference. Churchill’s remark was not “unparliamentary language,” since it referred to MacDonald’s lack of courage, not his honesty. Skinner’s remark essentially labeled Mr. Cameron a crook. Under the rules, Members of Parliament may not accuse one another of dishonesty or use profanity—though, as <em>The New York Times</em> puts it,&nbsp;“the line at which insult crosses over into ‘unparliamentary language’ is often hard to draw.”</p>
<p class="p1">Mr. Skinner should have urged Mr. Cameron to ‘fess up to his sins lest he become another Boneless Wonder. That would have been fine.</p>
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