I asked the Prime Minister why 34% of children in Stockton North are living in poverty.  The Home Secretary James Cleverly can apparently be heard saying it is a "sh**hole".

This comment shames the Home Secretary, the Government and his party and he should apologise. pic.twitter.com/hgmCLBdqCx

— Alex Cunningham (@ACunninghamXMP) November 22, 2023

Blimey – Labour MP claims the Home Sec James Cleverly described his constituency in Stockton as a “shithole” in the House of Commons
pic.twitter.com/xeGCyzKuFC

— Shehab Khan ITV (@ShehabKhan) November 22, 2023

StocktonGate latest. Understand the actual comment was “it’s because you’re a shit MP”.

— (((Dan Hodges))) (@DPJHodges) November 22, 2023

What a time to be alive, never did I think I would be doing a thread header on whether the Home Secretary called a town a shithole.

I cannot see any next cabinet minister to leave/Cleverly exit date markets but if there were I suspect I’d be backing Cleverly to survive this story.

In politics perceptions sometimes matter than the facts and this will cement the belief that the Tories are full of arrogant out of touch elitists even if Cleverly didn’t say the comments about Stockton North, if he had accurately described nearby Middlesbrough in such terms this would be a total non story.

TSE