dead Tory

So, Eric Forth has finally shuffled off this mortal coil.

I've enjoyed reading the tributes, mostly cos no-one has had the balls to say that he was a complete pain in the arse to anyone wanting to bring a Private Members' Bill. He would deliberately filibuster in order to make debates run out of time, so that the law could not progress. It was entirely down to him that the first Fireworks Bill failed, and I was so bloody annoyed that I felt like going down to Westminster solely to slap him round the chops.

However, to his credit, he did have an excellent sense of timing. As Guido Fawkes points out:

"It was only a week or two ago that Eric Forth, when Ming stood up to ask the PM a question about the pensions crisis, boomed "Declare your interest!". The House of Commons collapsed into laughter. Ming was deflated and unable to recover from the well-timed interjection."