Filibuster, Mendacious, Disingenuous: the Brexit Parliament Jargon Buster

Despite it being one of the most important times in our recent political history, nobody can blame those without an Oxbridge university for switching off.

From the untrained eye, the inside of The House of Commons looks more like the end of the night in your local pub rather than a place where the biggest decisions in the country are made.

Yet we are hooked to BBC Parliament like never before.

You've got random people whooping and yelling at each other from across the room, others slouch down into their seats like they've had one too many appletinis whilst the guy you only invited because you felt sorry for him picks his nose in a dark corner.

In between all of this madness, someone who likes the sound of their own voice will stand up and start shouting incoherently using words like filibuster, mendacious and disingenuous. However, these people aren't speaking in Klingon, they're speaking in Politician.

Here's a quick guide to political jargon.

BBC

Filibuster

Originally, filibuster was used to describe pirates who would rob ships at sea, however the usage within parliament is much less interesting. When a potential law is being debated, there's only a certain amount of time it can be discussed for. Filibustering is a bit like keeping a football at the corner flag in order to waste time, apart from there's no ball, there's just a politician endlessly talking nonsense. We might see one in action this week if a motion to stop a no-deal Brexit is voted through by MPs.

The Whip

Unfortunately, it's not as kinky as it sounds. A whip is someone in a political party who gets MPs to vote how the party wants them to. There's also a three-line whip which refers to the weekly letter that Lord and MPs receive which tells them which votes are coming up. If the votes are underlined, their party's whip is saying its important they're backed. If one is underlined three times aka. a three-line whip, they are insisting you vote for it, or else they'll get a severe punishment.

If you have the whip withdrawn, it means you're kicked out of the party within Parliament.

PA

Mendacious

Mendacious is the politician's way of saying 'not telling the truth'.

In context: Some of these statements are misleading and some are downright mendacious.

LIES is the word you're looking for.

Disingenuous

Disingenuous means not candid or sincere, typically by pretending that one knows less about something than one really does.

In context: Ken Clarke told the commons: "I do think the Prime Minister, with the greatest respect, has a tremendous skill in keeping a straight face while he's being so disingenuous."

PA

Topics: UK News, Parliament, Interesting, brexit, Boris Johnson

Mark Cunliffe

Mark is a writer at LADbible with a creative writing background and a history working at some of Manchester's biggest agencies. He loves football and music that screams a lot.

@mark_cunliffe