Tory scum is a phrase used to describe members of the United Kingdom's Conservative Party ("Tory" is a colloquial name for the Conservatives) by its opponents. Journalist Michael White called the phrase a regularly used "ancient British roar";[1] David Graeber, a "familiar slogan";[2] and Fintan O'Toole joked that in some parts of England the phrase was thought to be the actual name of the Conservative Party.[3]
In November 2023 the High Court in England ruled that it was "reasonable" for two protesters to have called Iain Duncan Smith “Tory scum” at the 2021 Tory Party Conference. The protestors had been acquitted the year before of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with intent, and the High Court found that "the use of Tory scum was to highlight the policies" of Mr Duncan Smith, contributing to the "reasonableness of the conduct".[4]
Use in the United States
editSince at least the time of the American War of Independence from Britain, Americans referred to those loyal to the British crown – known as Loyalists or Tories[5][6] — as "Tory scum".[7][8][9] After the revolutionary war, the phrase could also be directed at Americans considered disloyal to the United States.[10]
Gallery
edit-
Sticker of Conservative politician Michael Gove with "Tory scum" written on his forehead -
"Tory scum" protest placard in a march as it passes the statue of Boadicea and Her Daughters in London -
"Tory scum" graffitied over a road sign about the Conservative Party Conference -
"Tory scum" graffitied on a wall of 30 Millbank (then home to Conservative Campaign Headquarters) during the 2010 student protests in London -
Sticker, stuck to a lamp post in Birmingham, displaying the words "Tory scum out of Brum"
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ White, Michael (10 November 2010). "At the student protests, the ancient cry of 'Tory scum' once again echoed out". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 24 November 2023. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
- ^ Graeber, David (2016). "Despair Fatigue: How hopelessness grew boring". The Baffler (30): 35. ISSN 1059-9789. JSTOR 43959195.
- ^ O'Toole, Fintan (5 March 2020). "Introduction: Before the Golden Age". Three Years in Hell: The Brexit Chronicles. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-83893-522-1.
- ^ Boffey, Daniel (21 November 2023). "Reasonable for protesters to call Iain Duncan Smith 'Tory scum', court rules". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
- ^ Chopra, Ruma (7 June 2013). Choosing Sides: Loyalists in Revolutionary America. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 30. ISBN 978-1-4422-0573-4.
- ^ Hoock, Holger (9 May 2017). Scars of Independence: America's Violent Birth. Crown. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-8041-3729-4.
- ^ Purcell, L. Edward; Burg, David F. (1992). The World Almanac of the American Revolution. World Almanac. p. 71. ISBN 978-0-88687-574-9.
- ^ Boyd, Paul D. (2004). Atlantic Highlands: From Lenape Camps to Bayside Town. Arcadia Publishing. p. 93. ISBN 978-0-7385-2463-4.
- ^ Hornor, William S. (June 2009). This Old Monmouth of Ours. Genealogical Publishing Com. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-8063-4860-5.
- ^ Sawyer, Jeffrey K. (1993). "Distrust of the Legal Establishment in Perspective: Maryland During the Early National Years". Georgia Journal of Southern Legal History. 2: 26. doi:10.2139/ssrn.2443927. hdl:11603/7312.