Now right is triggered by new Green MP's clobber

New Green MP and former plumber Hannah Spencer had everything but the kitchen sink thrown at her by opponents as she ran in the Denton and Gorton by-election. But after triumphing and taking her seat in the Commons, opponents to her election have turned on… her choice of attire in the Chamber.

Spencer made her maiden speech in Parliament last week on the subject of International Women’s Day, talking of how “where I am from, we give a nod to the statue of Emmeline Pankhurst. We remember the farm worker and seamstress Hannah Mitchell, the trade unionist Mary Quaile and the mill worker Annie Kenney – and, of course, Elsie Plant, who is from just down the road from me and who I named one of my beautiful greyhounds after. I think of these brilliant women a lot, and especially today as we debate International Women’s Day.”

Unfortunately, though, many choose to focus on the bigger issue of what they declared to be unparliamentary attire – Spencer’s vibrant pink long-sleeved blouse, pale blue sleeveless waistcoat and high-waisted emerald green trousers, or what Rats in a Sack is assured is called “dopamine dressing”.

“I’m sorry but there comes a point at which someone’s dress is so daft and inappropriate that it becomes worthy of comment,” wrote right wing barrister and writer Rupert Myers on X. “This would be fine for CBBC it isn’t fine for an MP.”

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Myers’s post was met with such mockery he later deleted it, but one correspondent who did agree was Emily Sheffield, short-lived London Standard editor, daughter of Sir Reginald Sheffield, 8th Baronet and sister-in-law of David Cameron.

“I agree with Rupert – and I’m a woman,” she wrote. “It’s a serious place and yes… addressing serious global issues so don’t turn up looking like you’re auditioning for the Teletubbies. It’s got nothing to do whether she’s a woman; a man would be criticised even more I suspect.”

Meanwhile, Chris Rose, a conservative commentator with 212,000 X followers, posted a picture of Spencer alongside that of former attorney general Geoffrey Cox, speaking in Parliament in a three-piece suit, with the comment “The contrast, such decline!”.

This led Times Radio political editor Anna Mikhailova to reply, not unreasonably: “Yes, Geoffrey Cox made a good speech. But it’s also only the second debate he spoke in 2026. And last year, he spoke in just 5 debates.

“He found time to earn over £774,000 in legal work though. Let’s see how the new MP gets on, but compare them on their work, not their outfits.”