Reform aghast as Spencer calls them ‘grubby’ in parliament

On 11 June, Hannah Spencer caused quite the commotion in parliament for vocalising a popular-held sentiment about Reform UK. Here’s what went down:

"There's plenty of dirty grubbiness behind me." Look at their faces. Well said Hannah. #PMQs pic.twitter.com/9oD2OrP4KR

— Oliver (@OWS1892) June 10, 2026

Presumably, that’s ‘dirty’ to the left of her and ‘grubby’ to the right.

But what did Spencer say exactly?

It’s a filthy job

The offending comment in full was:

Running a business as a plumber, I was well used to dealing with dirty grubbiness, and there is still plenty of that dirty grubbiness behind me.

Given that Spencer sits directly in front of the Reform mob, the assumption is she was accusing them of being ‘dirty’ and ‘grubby’. We’re not quite sure why she’d say that, but it could have something to do with stories like the following:

• Farage bought £1.4m house after undeclared £5m ‘gift’.
• Former Reform leader Gill sentenced to 10.5 years for taking bribes.
• Reform councillor fined £40,000 for hiring ‘illegal’ workers.
• Reform candidate Goodwin took fat salary from Hungarian far-right.
• Former Tory donors flock to Reform, including a massive donation from Thai-based billionaire.
• Reform candidate became councillor despite antisemitism exposé.

Spencer’s comments went down well online:

She shoots, she scores!@SarahForRuncorn’s face

*chef’s kiss*

Well done, Hannah Spencer! @McrGreenParty pic.twitter.com/wV0QhJ8VIa

— James Foster (@JamesEFoster) June 10, 2026

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Well, the comments mostly went down well. Brain genius Lee Anderson hit back at the insinuation with the following:

Dirty Grubbiness.

Today one of the Green MPs spoke of the dirty grubbiness sat behind her.

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She must've been talking about the Lib Dems sat behind us.

Vote @reformparty_uk pic.twitter.com/4aMtK4pbdM

— Lee Anderson MP (@LeeAndersonMP_) June 10, 2026

They’re calling it the comeback of the century.

‘Dirty grubbiness, is it? Yeah? Well, actually, she probably meant someone else.‘

Another retort was that Spencer appeared to be “draped in exquisite Gucci”:

At PMQs, Green MP Hannah Spencer, draped in exquisite Gucci, accused Lee Anderson and Sarah Pochin of being “dirty and grubby.” But Starmer landed the line, calling out Zack Polanski’s absence and asking if he’d swapped his houseboat for a submarine. pic.twitter.com/EliuXmu6ID

— Crewkerne Man (@CrewkerneMan) June 10, 2026

You’ll notice that the right are so riled by what Spencer said that they’re defending Starmer to get at her. Unprecedented stuff.

We’ve contacted Spencer to get to the bottom of the Gucci accusation, and will let you know if she updates us. Regardless of whether it’s Gucci or not, it’s probably not smart to respond to the ‘dirty and grubby’ accusations by saying ‘yeah, well you’re stylish and well dressed!‘

Yellow-bellied submarine

What’s been under-reported is that Spencer was actually asking a question of Keir Starmer. That question in full was:

Running a business is tough, so will the Prime Minister join me in backing the “VAT’s the Problem” campaign to cut VAT rates in hospitality? He did not answer the question last week, so will he tell us today: yes or no?

Would you believe Starmer answered by not answering?

Specifically, he said:

I am very glad that we are cutting VAT over the summer with our summer savings programme, which I hope the hon. Lady will support. I note that we have not heard much from the Green party leader after he admitted he had not paid his council tax. Perhaps he has traded his houseboat for a submarine.

In our opinion, the joke didn’t land as well as Crewkerne Man suggested. We say this because Starmer’s anxiety and awkwardness have reached record highs. We can’t confirm this, but that could be because his party has unofficially given him the sack. And honestly, we’d feel awkward too if we had to stand before several hundred people and pretend to be the prime minister.

As Spencer noted, our temporary PM faced a similar question last week, which came from Rosie Duffield:

This week, Tom Kerridge and UKHospitality launched their “VAT’s the Problem” campaign, and yesterday my neighbour the right hon. Member for Herne Bay and Sandwich (Sir Roger Gale) and I hosted industry bodies, chefs Matt Tebbutt and Thomasina Myers and hospitality leaders from Manchester, Liverpool, London and Kent, including Andy Burnham’s night-time economy adviser Sacha Lord. They all agree with campaigners such as Andy Lennox that the UK’s rate of 20% VAT on hospitality is killing businesses daily. Does the Prime Minister agree that VAT’s the problem? Will he match the pledge of his candidate in Makerfield to slash VAT in line with the rest of Europe?

Ah, okay, so now we see why Starmer was nervous. The proposal is being promoted by his replacement, Andy Burnham, so obviously it must be a sore point.

Tinkering

For clarity, this was how Starmer responded to Duffield:

I thank the hon. Member for the question. I recognise the challenges that she identifies. That is why we are permanently lowering business rates for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses. Every pub will get 15% off its new business rates bill, and bills will be frozen in real terms for a further two years. In relation to VAT, she will see that we are offering support by cutting VAT on children’s meals in restaurants—particularly over the summer period—with those savings set out two weeks ago by the Chancellor.

What he’s saying is ‘no‘, he doesn’t have any plans to permanently reduce VAT. As a British politician, however, he can’t just give a straight answer. And as such, he’s going to keep facing the same question.

Featured image via X/Twitter

By Willem Moore

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