Beard Liberation Front
24th February
Contact: BLF Organiser, Keith Flett 07803 167266
Campaigners back MP criticised for ‘improper’ dress in virtual Commons debate
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that it has sympathy with the Conservative MP for Stoke on Trent Jonathan Gullis who was refused permission by Deputy Speaker Dame Eleanor Laing to speak in a virtual Commons debate because he was improperly dressed.
Mr Gullis was wearing a jumper whereas current Commons rules require men to require a jacket.
The campaigners say that while they accept the MPs should be presentably, if not smartly, dressed when speaking in the Commons, either virtually or personally, the association of a jacket or suit with smartness is misplaced and outdated in 2021.
They also say that Mr Gullis’s beard may have excited a degree of sub-conscious over reaction by the Deputy Speaker reflecting age old prejudices that the hirsute are untidy dressers.
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, the Prime Minister invariably wears a suit for his Commons appearances but has got the art of appearing unkempt and dishevelled down to a fine art. Being appropriately dressed in 2021 is not about whether you wear a jacket or not.
BBC Report
Pity there is no rule about brushing your hair and not looking like Wurzel Gummidge