Former transport minister Andrew Adonis drew laughs at the Cambridge Union at the University of Cambridge last night with a bicycle-related joke at the expense of Tory backbench MP and Hardest of Hard Brexits cheerleader-in-chief, Jacob Rees-Mogg.
The MP for North East Somerset, whose whose demeanour, dress and opinions may lead some to wonder if HG Wells’ 1895 novella The Time Machine was rather more than a work of fiction, was pitted against the Labour peer in a debate titled “This house believes no deal is better than a bad deal.”
But as respective proposer and opponent of the motion, neither was eligible for a prize of a bicycle to be awarded to the best speaker from the floor on the evening, reports Bloomberg.
That prompted the following barb from Adonis: “We think we should be eligible and Jacob in particular wants to have the penny farthing if he wins.”
As it turned out, Rees-Mogg lost the debate … but if he fancies a spin on one of those new-fangled bicycles, he could always ask the Courtyard Coffee House and Penny Farthing Museum in Cheshire if he could borrow their recently-acquired ‘Hobby Horse’, believed to be Britain’s oldest bike and made 199 years ago.
16 thoughts on “Andrew Adonis slaps down Jacob Rees-Mogg with penny-farthing joke”
Surely an ordinary would be
Surely an ordinary would be rather too advanced for this throwback to the days of glorious empire?
burtthebike wrote:
Did you see this weeks Private Eye cover? Rees-Mogg wants to take us out of the EU so we might commence trading with Persia, Mesopotamia, and Far Cathay. Isn’t he referred to as the honourable member for 1880?
No f*****g politics. There
No f*****g politics. There are plenty of other forums dedicated to debate Brexit
CXR94Di2 wrote:
Cycling is political. We need the politicians to stop funding more and more roads and start building the cycling infrastructure that they are all so in favour of but can’t afford because they’ve spent all the money on roads and ego schemes like HS2.
We need the politicians to stop talking about helmets as if they were the answer to cycling safety and to actually do something that might work.
We need politicians to get out of their cars and onto their bikes.
Not sure about Jacob Rees-Smug though; I might draw the line there.
burtthebike wrote:
No way. You just want it to be. Politics is about poll numbers. Polls say that people think cycling is kids stuff and real tax payers drive cars. That’s why we don’t see any investment in cycling.
Want to really make a difference? Move to a country where cycling is taken seriously and make a difference for yourself. Why would you waste your time fighting against a bunch of people who don’t care if you live or die?
Before you or anybody say for the country, just remember the country is the people. And, life is already too short all on itself.
FullGas wrote:
Actually, all the polls say that the majority of people want more money spent on cycling.
Why should I have to move to another country just because this one is run by driving fanatics? We know what works, all the politicians acknowledge that the future is more cycling and that there must be more investment, they are just so gutless and cowardly that they won’t do it.
I’ve no idea what you last two sentences mean.
Adonis smites Jacob.
Adonis smites Jacob.
It’s like Ancient and Classical Death Match with two bronzed heroes oiled up and wrestling in the dust in their loin-cloths and sandals.
But without the loincloths and sandals.
How this antediluvian twit
How this antediluvian twit holds any power in this country beggars belief.
Leviathan wrote:
English nationalists yearning for an identity derived from something they don’t understand called free trade, and an economy based only on colonial exploitation and the enslavement of brown-skinned people everywhere, coupled with a hatred of Germans and assorted other foreigners. They all think they’ll be dukes and earls, but in fact they’ll be chimney sweeps and tweenies, tugging their forelocks to Rees-Mogg and his snooty chums in their London clubs.
Leviathan wrote:
Well, he is considerably wealthy (multi-millions wealthy)… And remember that our country’s democratic ideals are gradually being changed a plutocracy.
This is a very thin story
This is a very thin story about a very weak joke.
The headline would be far
The headline would be far better without the word ‘joke’…
This really has nothing to do
This really has nothing to do with cycling. Road.cc please go have a little look at yourselves in the mirror.
He’s more Andrew than Adonis.
He’s more Andrew than Adonis.
Anthony.C wrote:
In fairness, the fellow made that joke himself a long time ago. I’d have changed my name early on, mind. Talk about writing cheques one’s body can’t cash.
If he did he certainly wasn’t
If he did he certainly wasn’t the first…Robert Harris coined the phrase.