Support our Nation today - please donate here
News

Welsh Labour MP apologises for tweet that called Brexit supporters ‘thick’

30 Jul 2021 3 minute read
Chris Bryant. Official portrait of Chris Bryant – UK Parliament (CC BY 3.0).

A Welsh Labour MP has apologised for a tweet that called Brexit supporters “thick”.

Chris Bryant, who represents the Rhondda, came under fire for retweeting a post from columnist Tim Walker that blamed Brexit for empty shelves in supermarkets.

It included an image of mocked-up signs with messages such as: “If you voted for Brexit. You can f*** off out of here.

“You thick t***s. You probably voted Conservative huh?

“Brexit caused this. All other COVID affected countries have plenty of stock.

“If you did not vote for this we are truly sorry.”

Bryant later removed the retweet, saying: “My profound apologies, I hadn’t spotted the appalling language and removed my RT, again I apologise.”

Tory MP Peter Bone has criticised Bryant, telling TalkRADIO: “If you can’t win the argument you attack the person, instead of playing the ball – you play that player.

“And I think Chris Bryant, who was a huge fan of remaining in the EU, loves the EU.

“He’s lost the argument, Brexit has proved to be a success.

“The fact that we had the vaccination programme is because we weren’t in the European Medical Agency.”

‘Silly’

He added: “So he can’t win the argument so he attacks the players and I think on reflection Chris Bryant will probably think that was a bit of a silly remark and he should really apologise for it.”

“I don’t agree with Chris Bryant on his policies and I just think when you do that you show that you’ve lost the argument.

“Chris should be fair-minded and say he shouldn’t have said that, he’s insulting more than half the country.

“It’s just not what you should do as a politician, you should argue about the policy, you shouldn’t argue about the people… it’s just a silly thing to say.”

Tim Walker reacted to the furore, saying: “I just had a message from this radio station about this. An earnest po-faced chat about what is clearly a joke.

“I think it’s true what I write in my forthcoming book #StarTurns. This country lost its sense of humour around the time Ronnie Corbett died.

“It makes me think of that line Coral Browne came out with to Alan Bates as Guy Burgess in An Englishman Abroad, when she said the problem she saw with Communism was that everyone looked so joyless. It’s the same thing I feel about the system we’re getting all too used to here.

“Anyway they don’t want me on any more. I wanted to make a robust defence of having a sense of humour.


Support our Nation today

For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
19 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Quornby
Quornby
3 years ago

Bryant non news….. Who cares what he thinks or does?

And I don't like Bryant either
And I don't like Bryant either
3 years ago

“Bone” is clearly only the first half of his surname. The rest is “head”.

Everything that’s wrong on this island summed up in one person.

Sandra Steel
Sandra Steel
3 years ago

Christ Bryant? Do you really think that the people of the Rhondda needs God to represent them?

#1Chris
#1Chris
3 years ago

Typical!
Why did he apologise? They are thick.

The fact that Chris Bone(r) has claimed it was a success is evidence of this.

Mark
Mark
3 years ago

So maybe the real question should be, Could the tory mp peter bone provide some evidence that brexit has been a success so far.

defaid
defaid
3 years ago
Reply to  Mark

Clearly Wales has had a huge benefit from Brexit. More so in fact than England, because we’ve got a larger proportion of our population vaccinated. It wouldn’t have been possible without the Westminster tories…

#1Chris
#1Chris
3 years ago
Reply to  defaid

Yet if we were a free nation we could have got the vaccines ourselves. We should not praise Westminster for inserting themselves (and Boris’ unqualified Eton chums) as middlemen.

j humphrys
j humphrys
3 years ago

Bryant is “Fool of the week” on Max Robespierre’s You Tube today. He sure gets around!

#1Chris
#1Chris
3 years ago
Reply to  j humphrys

I have a new Youtube channel to watch! Thank you

John Rogers
John Rogers
3 years ago

It’s the people who voted for Bryant who are thick ! How could you elect somebody who behaved the way he did in the dying days of the last Labour government ?

#1Chris
#1Chris
3 years ago
Reply to  John Rogers

Maybe. But still Brexiteers are thick

phloaw
phloaw
3 years ago

“The fact that we had the vaccination programme is because we weren’t in the European Medical Agency.”
This is the stupidest thing I’ve read. UK could have done exactly the same thing wrt vaccination without the whole brexit mess.
This proves that brexiteers are always trying to mislead, hinting to a fundamental flaw in the idea itself.

Leigh Richards
Leigh Richards
3 years ago

Shame he deleted – is about the only thing bryant’s ever got right!

John Brooks
John Brooks
3 years ago

I think it is time for Nation Cymru to end this near obsession with Chris Bryant. Other MPs are available! 😊

Mr Williams
Mr Williams
3 years ago

While I don’t laud the language used in the tweet, and Chris Bryant probably made a genuine mistake in sharing it, I do think the Brexit lobby need to start being held to account for all the promises they made – and subsequently broke, especially for the absolute – and dangerous – mess they are creating in Northern Ireland.

#1Chris
#1Chris
3 years ago
Reply to  Mr Williams

He did not make a mistake. The writing is the first thing you see.
Also it was correct

john morgan
john morgan
3 years ago

Somewhat puzzled by the remark concerning vaccination against Covid. Here in the EU we were all vaccinated months ago, before UK had even worked out it wasn’t a mistake for the scientific name of a crow.

hedgehog
hedgehog
3 years ago

Who cares what Mr Bryant thinks but as a matter of interest did not the Rhondda one of the area which voted to leave and Mr Bryant was elected to be their MP so is Mr Bryant saying those who voted for him are twp

Thomas McAvoy
Thomas McAvoy
3 years ago

He is correct – if your talking average intelligence – half the country is thick – thats the problem with democracies there is always the chance the dumb half win

Our Supporters

All information provided to Nation.Cymru will be handled sensitively and within the boundaries of the Data Protection Act 2018.