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news
Jacob Rees-Mogg and Penny farthing (original photo licensed CC BY-SA 2.0 on Flickr by Bob Walker).jpgAndrew Adonis slaps down Jacob Rees-Mogg with penny-farthing joke
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.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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16 comments
If he did he certainly wasn't the first...Robert Harris coined the phrase.
He's more Andrew than Adonis.
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.
This really has nothing to do with cycling. Road.cc please go have a little look at yourselves in the mirror.
The headline would be far better without the word 'joke'...
This is a very thin story about a very weak joke.
How this antediluvian twit holds any power in this country beggars belief.
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.
Well, he is considerably wealthy (multi-millions wealthy)... And remember that our country's democratic ideals are gradually being changed a plutocracy.
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.
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No f*****g politics. There are plenty of other forums dedicated to debate Brexit
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.
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.
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.
Surely an ordinary would be rather too advanced for this throwback to the days of glorious empire?
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?