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Politics
Liam O'Dell
Oct 10, 2022
Related video: Greenpeace protesters removed from Tory party conference during Liz Truss speech
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The fact that Stephen Fry is a national treasure is not news, but him taking to Twitter to shut down a Conservative MP talking about the bizarre “anti-growth coalition” very much is.
If you missed it, prime minister and Tory party leader Liz Truss told members at this year’s Conservative Party Conference that she would not “allow the anti-growth coalition to hold us back”.
Those included in the group which sounds like a heavy metal band include Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the Scottish National Party, “militant unions”, the “vested interests dressed up as think tanks”, Extinction Rebellion and two Greenpeace protesters who disrupted her speech to hold up a sign asking “who voted for this?”
And Jamie Oliver could well be included in that list too – hilariously – as The Independent reports Downing Street has not ruled out the chef as being part of what is coming across more and more as a prestigious social group.
Nevertheless, the unusual term has since been parroted by other Conservative MPs such as Suzanne Webb, MP for Stourbridge and the PM’s Parliamentary Private Secretary.
Sharing a campaign video from her party, she wrote on Twitter: “It’s pro-growth Conservatives v The Anti-Growth Coalition. I know which side that I am on.”
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Though Mr Fry, ever the wordsmith, wasn’t particularly convinced by the Tories’ new phrase to describe anyone they don’t like.
“Oh for heaven’s sake grow up. Do you really think any sentient adult in the world believes there is such a thing as ‘The Anti-Growth Coalition’ outside the squalid and outdated playbook of the fatuous sloganeers your party pays to advise them?
“Give the British people some credit,” he replied.
Ouch.
And others have since supported Mr Fry’s take on the silliness:
\u201c\ud83d\udd25\ud83d\udd25\ud83d\udd25\ud83d\udd25 burn!\u201d— Helen Of Hoi Polloi\u00a9\ufe0f \ud83d\udc1f\ud83d\udc08\u200d\u2b1b\ud83d\udc08\u200d\u2b1b (@Helen Of Hoi Polloi\u00a9\ufe0f \ud83d\udc1f\ud83d\udc08\u200d\u2b1b\ud83d\udc08\u200d\u2b1b) 1665323400
\u201cStephen Fry telling Stourbridge parachute MP exactly how it is \ud83e\udd70\u201d— Sam (@Sam) 1665247669
\u201cAnd in a tweet, Stephen Fry ends this Government\u2019s last hope of gaining any traction with the British public.\n\nWell played sir.\u201d— Trevor McArdle (@Trevor McArdle) 1665238688
\u201cThe naivity of them believing the AGC is something they could invent and then people get behind !. They've been listening to @mrjamesob and thought...?"Footballification! That'll do it!" We are at one extreme, let's put everybody else at the other end.\u201d— Bob Ewart (@Bob Ewart) 1665219399
\u201cPov you are the Tory MP for Stourbridge who frankly half the people in Stourbridge probably haven\u2019t heard of, you have just under 6k followers and Stephen Fry randomly mounts a drive by in your mentions\u201d— Alan White (@Alan White) 1665178021
\u201cFRIED\u201d— Bobson Dugnutt \u2764\ufe0f\ud83c\udfcf\ud83d\udca5 (@Bobson Dugnutt \u2764\ufe0f\ud83c\udfcf\ud83d\udca5) 1665178354
\u201cYou know it's bad when a national treasure like @stephenfry is agitated by the idiocy, lies and bullshit from the @Conservatives.\n\nWe knew it was bad anyway, but Stephen is so nice and lovely. It's too much when the party that wrecked the economy and the pound criticises others.\u201d— Chris Wray (@Chris Wray) 1665172047
\u201cLiz, we've found another of them\u201d— robert shrimsley (@robert shrimsley) 1665251051
\u201cWe won't harp on about UK politics.\n\nBut politicians pretending they are fighting an imaginary adversary is not restricted to any one country. \n\nAlways apply some critical thinking like @stephenfry has here.\u201d— Extinction Rebellion (@Extinction Rebellion) 1665178506
Now if you’ll excuse us, we’ll go and add Mr Fry’s name to an ever-increasing list of people who could well be a part of the “anti-growth coalition”.
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