Paul O'Grady's legendary rant on Tory austerity is still as relevant as ever

Paul O'Grady has died aged 67.

His partner Andre Portasio confirmed in a statement that the TV star known for his drag persona Lily Savage and for hosting a number of popular TV shows over the years died “unexpectedly but peacefully” on Tuesday evening.

And so, as people react to the sad news, some of his most notable moments have been recirculating on social media.

One such moment was in October 2010 when he slammed the then coalition government led by David Cameron for their austerity policy.

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Speaking live on his ITV show, he called the coalition "bastards".

He said: "Talking of nits – George Osborne [the chancellor at the time], what do we think?

"I'd sooner have Ozzy Osbourne as chancellor. At least with Ozzy the only cuts would be the f-ing and blinding from his speech. Do you know what got my back up? Those Tories hooping and hollering when they heard about the cuts. 'Gonna scrap the pensions – yeah! – no more wheelchairs – yeah!' Bastards."

The studio cheered and whooped and he added: "I do apologise for the language, that just fell out. I bet when they were children they laughed in Bambi when his mother got shot."

Singing an old music hall song, he added "It's the same the whole world over, it's the poor what gets the blame" – and suggested viewers take to the streets "in our fight against oppression".

He added austerity wouldn't happen in France where they "kick off if their coffee's cold" which is ironic given the protests against pension reform happening in the European country at the moment, and started playing the French national anthem, suggesting we should all be a bit more like our neighbours across the Channel (this was filmed six years before Brexit, by the way).

With soaring inflation and a cost of living crisis hurting Britain, O'Grady's iconic monologue still rings true in lots of ways.

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