BRIDGWATER’S MP is the subject of an article in the latest edition of satirical magazine Private Eye, in which Ian Liddell-Grainger is described as ‘Somerset’s answer to Donald Trump’.
The article is entitled Man in the Eye and takes a look at the Somerset MP’s most infamous moments, prompted by his recent fallout with Avon and Somerset Police over the renewal of his firearms’ licence.
The Eye describes ‘much public merriment’ after Mr Liddell-Grainger launched his angry tirade against the police after he found out it would take 16 weeks to get it renewed after forgetting to send off the paperwork in time.
But, The Eye said Mr Liddell-Grainger had voted strongly in favour of public cuts in recent years, including those to the police force.
In his tirade, as reported in the Mercury, Mr Liddell-Grainger was furious at the delay and slammed the police for their lack of action.
He said: “Sixteen weeks to complete one piece of paperwork looks like utter incompetence.
“I told the officer I thought it was an unrealistically long time and he just said the police had lots of other things to do. I could almost hear the shrug down the phone.
“When I mentioned the fact that I was an MP it was suggested that if the Government gave the force some more money they might be able to get these things done more quickly.”
The Eye article went on to list a number of Mr Liddell-Grainger’s previous headline-making antics.
These included calling the Environment Agency chairman ‘a git’ and ‘threatening to stick his head down the loo’, and airbrushing West Somerset Council leader Tim Taylor out of an official photograph.
The Private Eye article said none of these cases had impacted on his popularity, concluding by asking ‘Has Somerset found its own answer to Donald Trump?’
When contacted by the Mercury, Mr Liddell-Grainger responded to the article, saying: “Some of it is true, some of it is not true but that’s Private Eye.”
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