In one of the most unlikely political put-downs of this – or any – general election, former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith has borrowed some lyrics from the rapper Eminem in order to mock Labour’s Diane Abbott on television.
Duncan Smith, who was the Tory party leader for two years from 2001 to 2003, appeared on ITV’s ‘Good Morning Britain’ alongside Labour’s Chuka Umunna on Monday morning (May 8th), when he ripped into Umunna’s colleague Diane Abbott, who had made an error-strewn radio interview last week.
Straight Outta Chingford – Iain Duncan Smith channelled Eminem to put down Diane Abbott
Returning from an advert break, Duncan Smith was asked to repeat something he had said off-camera. “I only said, because you were talking about Eminem earlier on, and I said of course that he had those ‘Lose Yourself’ lyrics, that are some lyrics for Diane Abbott.”
Reciting the lyrics, Duncan Smith astonished everybody by reeling off a couple of lyrics from Eminem’s 2002 hit: “‘He opens his mouth, but the words don’t come out, he’s choking now, everybody’s joking now, and the clock’s run out’”… I thought Diane had been checking that one out, actually.”
As Umunna looked on flabbergasted, host Piers Morgan described what he heard as “one of the great iconic cultural moments I’ve probably ever experienced on this sofa”.
Eminem scored a hit with ‘Lose Yourself’ back in 2002
It came less than a week after Abbott appeared on LBC Radio to give a rather wobbly interview in which she stumbled repeatedly over figures regarding the costs of Labour’s pledge to put thousands more police officers on the streets if they win the forthcoming general election on June 8th.
Predictably, many viewers took to Twitter to share their bemusement and distate. “Eminem doesn’t have a Grammy for album of the year but he does have Iain Duncan Smith attempting to rap his lyrics. There is no justice,” an Eminem fan remarked, while another asked: “How do I quit the human race?” Ouch.
Some were not convinced by IDS’ rapping skills, as one wrote: “If the general election was won by a rap battle it would be interesting… but never give Iain Duncan Smith a mic. Ever.”
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