Heathcliff's Hansard

Yesterday's session of the House of Commons (10th July 2008) were full of Wuthering Heights mentions. These are the textual quotations taken from the Official Report (Hansard):

Mr. George Osborne (Tatton) (Con):
Everyone knows that the Labour party is sleepwalking into another 10p tax fiasco. Will the Chancellor perform the necessary U-turn, or do we have to wait for Heathcliff to come down from Dithering Heights before they abandon this disastrous plan to tax families already feeling the squeeze?

Sir Patrick Cormack (South Staffordshire) (Con): Would the Chancellor tell us whether the country would be in a better state had his predecessor modelled himself on Mr. Micawber rather than on Heathcliff?

Mr. David Cameron (Witney) (Con): I thank the Prime Minister for his statement, and I am sure that I speak for the whole country when I say we are pleased to see that Heathcliff has come home.

Mr. Nick Clegg (Sheffield, Hallam) (LD)
Finally, is it not true that the G8 is struggling to have any real influence over some of the world’s major emerging powers? Much has changed since the 1980s, when the G8 was seen as the boardroom of the world where all the big decisions were taken and everyone else followed. Today, emerging powers such as China and India are a bit like large shareholders, demanding change that the board cannot deliver, and since today is the day for Tory jokes about Heathcliff, I hope that the Prime Minister will agree that the G8 should not die a death like Heathcliff—a man ranting and raving at a world he can no longer understand, control or change. [Interruption.] It is indeed. Does the Prime Minister agree that the G8 should expand to include India and China?

Mrs. Theresa May (Maidenhead) (Con):
Yesterday, the Prime Minister likened himself to Heathcliff. I imagine that most people would be disturbed by this comparison—as indeed it seems was Andrew McCarthy of the Brontë parsonage museum in Yorkshire, who explained that
“Heathcliff is a man prone to domestic violence, kidnapping, possibly murder and digging up his dead lover. He is moody, and unkind to animals.”
Can the Prime Minister make a statement explaining which of those characteristics is most like him?

Categories: In the News, Wuthering Heights