Labour MP calls party member ‘moron’ for questioning his climate policies

A Labour MP has shown he has a rather odd method of canvassing voters by calling one a “moron” for questioning his policies.

In what appeared to be quite a Politicians Know Best display, Clive Lewis, the Labour MP for Norwich South, asked a voter if he had “worked out” they were “a moron” after they asked him to list examples of green jobs.

The clash started when Lewis shared an article claiming Nancy Pelosi had come out against cancelling student debt because of the pressure of donors to the Democrats. Lewis remarked that it showed “another reason our politics will struggle to exert democratic control over oligarchical & corporate interests when it comes to wealth inequality & the #climatecrisis.”

In response, an account called ‘The Last Blairite’ asked Lewis if he had defined green jobs in his climate policy, in a mocking tone.

It was this that irked Lewis, and led to him calling him a moron.

Alongside Green Party MP Caroline Lucas, Lewis is the co-chair of the Green New Deal APPG which seeks to green the economy by phasing out the use of fossil fuels and create a secure jobs revolution that closes the widening inequality gap. The policy came out of the Corbyn era of the party - someone Lewis supported - but Starmer has recommitted to the pledge.

His critic, who previously said on Twitter that they were a party member, appeared to question whether there could be green jobs and suggested Lewis was yet to flesh out the policy.

And reacting to the exchange, some people were outraged by the name calling and demanded that he apologise:

Meanwhile, others thought it was perfectly acceptable for an MP to call someone a “moron” on Twitter and expressed their support for Lewis’ commitment to climate change:

Later, the person behind the Last Blairite account added that he had “no problem” with the insult but wanted Lewis to define his policy more explicitly.

Lewis is yet to respond.

Having strong policies to combat climate change can only be a good thing. Calling those who scrutinise them “morons” though? Not a great look.