Talk:Dennis Skinner

Victim of Ageist Hate Speech in the Commons
On 30/04/2012, David Cameron extraordinaryily advised Mr. Skinner that he was free to 'take his pension' and advised him to do the same, in reply to a request that the Prime Minister state categorically that he had never spoken to anyone connected to Rupert Murdoch about the BSkyB bid. There should be mention of this exchange as a current topic in connection with the Leveson Inquiry: link to BBC footage at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17900567. 79.75.218.192 (talk) 17:42, 30 April 2012 (UTC)twl79.75.218.192 (talk) 17:42, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

See also the official Parliamentary record... https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1986-12-05/debates/fc9ab13b-3055-4991-8437-eb8fa5d9ff06/Division(3December) MartUK2012 (talk) 20:21, 26 December 2020 (UTC)

Communist
"He is known for his Communist sentiments" Citation needed methinks. 87.114.176.212 (talk) 17:31, 19 May 2011 (UTC)

Untitled
"He is known for his republican (i.e., anti-monarchist) sentiments, although...he has never been publicly linked with Sinn Féin." This seems something of a non sequitur. Sinn Féin is specifically concerned with Northern Ireland gaining independence from the United Kingdom; its being a "republican" organisation is somewhat incidental. JLP

Skinner's politics have been influenced by his background.

Whose politics haven't? CD

Can someone put in a link, or a few comments about Dennis's brothers (I think they were Derek and David) who were Councillors on Clay Cross Council in the early 1970's, and were famously surcharged because they used the rates to subsidise Council Housing???

What did he study at Ruskin College? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.159.129.164 (talk) 12:12, August 29, 2007 (UTC)

Views on Abortion
According to the article, "[h]e has explained his views [on abortion] by noting that his mother was often pregnant - Skinner has many siblings."

That is very interesting. So which of his siblings does he think his mother should have aborted? I'll bet he is very popular at family reunions.

John Paul Parks (talk) 15:20, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Privy Council
Is Dennis Skinner a member of the Privy Council? He is styled 'The Right Honourable' in this article but I cannot see why. There is no mention of his having been appointed to the Privy Council; none of the positions he has held in public life would normally entail membership. This reputable looking website, Stuart Thomson, says specifically that he is not 'Rt Hon'.--Oxonian2006 (talk) 13:05, 6 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Going right to the source; he isn't in the list of Privy Council members. Road Wizard (talk) 18:07, 10 December 2009 (UTC)
 * And with his anti-monarchist sentiments, I doubt he ever will be. It would be very hypocritical of him to join The Queen's council. The C of E.          God Save The Queen! (talk) 09:25, 12 July 2010 (UTC)

Queen's Speech Jokes
"In 2010, he stated "No royal commissions this week" in reference to the recent newspaper story in the News of the World which revealed that the former Duchess of York had taken cash payments for introducing businessmen to the Duke of York."

This is not cited. It is more likely that he was referring to the fact that several "Royal Commissions" had been set up in the preceding week(s) acting on behalf of HMQEII during the closing of parliament. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.69.21.114 (talk) 18:18, 18 May 2011 (UTC)

How did this tradition start? The commons has certain protocols about what people can say, and I'd imagine that many Tories, for example, would take exception to any insult directed at the monarchy. So in that sense, it seems odd that it's become accepted as a benign tradition. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.113.62.217 (talk) 11:19, 11 May 2013 (UTC)

It's not a tradition. It's just Skinner making a spectacle of himself and everyone else being too polite to laugh at him — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.97.99.215 (talk) 13:48, 18 May 2016 (UTC)

Conscientious MP?
The article says Skinner is known for never missing a session. In fact his voting record, although good, is not outstanding. During the 2010-015 Parliament other MPs (admittedly much younger) such as Philip Hollobonme and Paul Nuttall had bewtter voting records. Indeed Skiner has been regarded by many coleagues as omething of a hypocrite, as he has never deigned to sit on Standing Committees, where importamt but less conspicuous work is performed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.97.43.100 (talk) 11:25, 29 October 2015 (UTC)
 * Could you provide any source(s) at all here please for "has been regarded by many colleagues as something of a hypocrite"? Thanks. Martinevans123 (talk) 13:54, 20 April 2017 (UTC)
 * I assume you are referring to David Nuttall, as it happens, not Paul, who has never been an MP. Conchyliatus (talk) 20:30, 19 July 2017 (UTC)Conchyliatus

How can he never miss a session if he is constantly suspended? Seriously, I want to know. 2602:306:251A:7489:2198:5C9B:BB05:38DC (talk) 13:12, 27 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Could you provide any source(s) at all here please for "constantly suspended". Seriously, I want to see them. Thanks. Martinevans123 (talk) 13:56, 20 April 2017 (UTC)
 * He's certainly been suspended from parliament a few times, as is referenced in the article itself. But as to the above question, my understanding of the suspension process is that when an MP is suspended, they are suspended for the remainder of that day's sitting, and if they agree to leave willingly they are allowed back the next day. Point being, they would have to be there on that day's session to be suspended in the first place, so it wouldn't affect session-by-session attendance. Someone can correct me if there are cases of longer suspensions. As to SineBot's point above, I wonder if voting records and session attendance ought be distinguished; there are certainly cases of MPs attending a session/debate but refusing to vote or not attending certain votes on principle, certainly a defense George Galloway has made of his vote-missing (which people can believe or disbelieve as they choose). I do not, however, have a real source either for votes attendance or sessions attendance. Conchyliatus (talk) 20:30, 19 July 2017 (UTC)Conchyliatus
 * Yes, very valid points. Martinevans123 (talk) 20:39, 19 July 2017 (UTC)

There's a lot of legends about Skinner that sometimes distort from the truth. A lot of MPs across parties certainly did harbour the view mentioned above not least because many a commentator and member of the public would cite Skinner as an example of a hardworking MP but those doing a lot of the grind work felt otherwise but few would say that on the record. His attendance record though strong was not 100% and there were many times when he was not present (his seat is notably empty in many a picture or clip of the Commons) whether because of health or other commitments (many a Labour NEC meeting has clashed with sittings of the Commons) or just not staying around for some of the business. Timrollpickering (talk) 22:17, 24 November 2021 (UTC)

Request for Comments
There is an RfC on the question of using "Religion: None" vs. "Religion: None (atheist)" in the infobox on this and other similar pages.

The RfC is at Template talk:Infobox person.

Please help us determine consensus on this issue. --Guy Macon (talk) 05:40, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

Skating horses
He does, in fact, say "Yeah, get your skates on... " But it sounds like there are also some earlier comments which are inaudible/ hard to understand:. Nicely misquoted by The Daily Telegraph, of course, which also accuses him of heckling the Queen, not David Leakey, Blackrod. Martinevans123 (talk) 17:03, 21 June 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
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6 November or 12 December
The article says that Dennis Skinner lost his seat on 6 November 2019. This is not true however as he lost his seat in the 2019 general election which according to another article was held on 12 December 2019. I just undid the edit but why is it the 6 November rather than 12 December I AM EGG and I AM CHICKEN (talk) 18:03, 11 April 2020 (UTC)
 * 6 November was when Parliament was dissolved. Technically, there are no MPs during an election campaign. Alex 18:52, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

He held his seat though right I AM EGG and I AM CHICKEN (talk) 12:07, 24 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Nope. In Australian articles, if the MP is defeated, we say they served until the election date (in the case of retirement, we say they left parliament on the dissolution date). Unfortunately this doesn’t happen in UK articles. SpaceFox99 (talk) 12:27, 24 April 2020 (UTC)

In the Mark Fletcher article, why doesn't it say the 6th November I AM EGG and I AM CHICKEN (talk) 15:43, 24 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Because Fletcher was elected on 12 December, the date of the election, not the date the previous parliament was dissolved. Alex 16:20, 24 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Because he was elected on Election Day (12/12/19) not at the dissolution of parliament (6/11/19). SpaceFox99 (talk) 22:55, 24 April 2020 (UTC)

Rumours of his death
If you're here asking for the article to be updated saying that he has died, please note that until his death is reported in reliable sources it is not going to be included in Wikipedia. Rumours on the internet are not enough. Nthep (talk) 20:50, 25 September 2020 (UTC)

"Dennis Skinner: Song about ex-MP tops Amazon download charts"
As this was on BBC news just an hour ago, he doesn't seem to be dead! The song is here. Doug Weller talk 10:30, 26 September 2020 (UTC)

Jewish
The fact Skinner is Jewish should be mentioned. (86.151.111.229 (talk) 02:39, 23 July 2021 (UTC))
 * What's your source for that "fact"? Thanks. Martinevans123 (talk) 07:43, 23 July 2021 (UTC)

"it tolls for thee" link
The quote "it tolls for thee" previously linked to the article on Ernest Hemingway's For Whom The Bell Tolls. As there is nothing to suggest that Skinner was making any kind of reference to Hemingway when he said that, I have corrected it to link to John Donne's Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, which is the source of the line "it tolls for thee" (and of the title of Hemingway's novel)

HairyDan (talk) 11:36, 19 November 2023 (UTC)