THE Americans have an expression for individuals who flatter people more powerful than themselves, while insulting those with less power. It’s ‘kiss up, kick down’. 

It seems to me that Nicholas Soames, MP for Mid Sussex, is just such a kiss up, kick down kind of guy. Keen to ingratiate himself with his friend the Prince of Wales, he was first off the blocks to malign the prince’s estranged wife, describing her as “paranoid”. He later apologised for this but the damage was done. 

Soames is brutal with opponents. Despite the fact many of his constituents, including many Tories, are deeply concerned about fracking, he abused actor and anti-fracking campaigner Emma Thompson on twitter, exulting that she had been “sprayed with pig s**t by a farmer”. He added the hashtag “thereisagod”.

The Times recently reported that James Cleverly, a pro-Brexit Tory MP, had seen the sharper side of Soames when he approached pro-Remain Nicholas Soames.

The was presented as little more than jolly japes from a Westminster ‘character’. However, it troubles me that politicians and journalists tolerate this.

One wonders if Soames’ oafish behaviour would be so readily excused if he were not, as we are repeatedly reminded, the grandson of Winston Churchill. Churchill could be insulting, but he was a great man - not an overgrown schoolboy.