Tory politician says the word 'cock' six times in Parliament, wins award

A Conservative MP managed to use the word "cock" six times in a speech at the House of Commons as part of a bet.

Penny Mordaunt, MP for Portsmouth North and a Naval reservist, used "cock" six times and "laid" or "lay" five times in an address about animal welfare in March last year after losing a bet to some of her friends in the Royal Marines. She also name-dropped a number of them in the speech.

The cause of hen and cock welfare is one raised with me by many constituents....

Trust should be cock-a-hoop...

Let us have no cock-ups on hen welfare...

Mordaunt was awarded a prize by Spectator magazine for "speech of the year" on Thursday, however some people were less impressed by the stunt.

The story made the front page of the Mail on Sunday in which Mordaunt was criticised by former Labour minister Kate Hoey who said:

She should realise that the House of Commons is not a TV reality show.

The public expects debates in the Chamber to be on matters of serious concern. It is sad that she has misused it in this way – it sets a bad precedent.

Her ruse also seemed to fool a number of her fellow politicians, one of whom reportedly wrote a formal reply to her about the matter.

Mordaunt seemed jovial about the whole thing however and said: "If I have offended anyone I’m sorry. Feel free to beat me up over it."

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You can read a full transcript of the speech here

HT Daily Mail/BuzzFeed