5 savage takedowns of the Tory candidate who says he’s teased for his intellectualism
Tory parliamentary candidate and incumbent, Johnny Mercer, is well known for making controversial statements, such as calling white poppies “attention-seeking rubbish” and when he said a fellow MP was right to have roughly shoved a climate change protester.
What he isn’t so well known for is any kind of deep intelligence; it’s fair to say he isn’t the Stephen Fry of the Commons. This became evident when he got himself into a Twitter row about these comments about Diane Abbott, which he has now deleted.
“This wonderful lady just made my day. Son in the military. Said she’s convinced Diane Abbott think MI5 is a motorway, and she doesn’t want her in charge of security. Couldn’t disagree…”
“She also told me Diane had told her Labour were going to land a man on the sun. Jeremy told her top stop being so stupid and that would never happen, but Diane replied that it was ok because they would do it at night. I think she’s on the right track in life.”
Author Maya Goodfellow leapt to her defence, leading to a brief argument.
This is misogynoir. Diane Abbott went to Cambridge, was the country's first black woman MP and has been a parliamentarian for years. When people say she's stupid or isn't qualified for her job, all they're doing is showing their own prejudice. https://t.co/avsyeJqtq8
— Maya Goodfellow (@MayaGoodfellow) December 3, 2019
No it’s not. At all. She says stupid things and gets held to account for it. Her race/sex/gender is totally irrelevant. But you knew that 🤦🏻♂️ https://t.co/Fun6bLeTBM
— Johnny Mercer (@JohnnyMercerUK) December 3, 2019
Race and gender aren't irrelevant – they shape how people are treated. Good you've deleted the tweet but perhaps some reflection on why it was ill-judged to begin with. I'm all for debate on policy but implying the most abused politician in the country is stupid isn't helpful
— Maya Goodfellow (@MayaGoodfellow) December 3, 2019
Which is when Mercer said this:
These five takedowns nailed it.
1.
In the same way I get teased for my hairstyle https://t.co/GOOkcSkbyS
— Andy Oakes (@andyoakes) December 4, 2019
2.
Johnny, I absolutely promise you, nobody is teasing you for your "intellectualism" https://t.co/GOCIii0AWX
— Deck the Halls with Boughs of SheRa (@SheRa_Marley) December 4, 2019
3.
Fair play, this is literally one of the funniest tweets of the decade. Johnny Mercer, JOHNNY MERCER, thinks people tease him for his intellectualism. You couldn't make it up. https://t.co/LZ79UodG60
— Matty Hayward (thinks you should vote Labour) (@MattyHayward96) December 4, 2019
4.
"i don't need to reflect" https://t.co/dF0dkmibMY pic.twitter.com/o0lTyYKjgU
— mostly festive bee 🐝🎄⛄🎁 (@soapachu) December 4, 2019
5.
I’ve found out who’s been teasing your ‘intellectualism’. pic.twitter.com/1MqdttKY5D
— The Jase 🐕🎸🎥 (@jasemonkey) 4 December 2019
Someone named Paddy Briggs shared this intuitive comment, which looks like it could be on the money.
I bet, I’m guessing here, that at school your teachers said about you “He’s bright, but not as bright as he thinks he is”. Am I right?
— Paddy Briggs 🔶🕷 (@PaddyBriggs) 4 December 2019
READ MORE
A Tory MP said something about white poppies and got schooled – the 17 best replies
Source Johnny Mercer Image Johnny Mercer, @jeshoots on Unsplash
