It hasn't been a great year for the mother of all parliaments and the final session of the year ended in controversy with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's alleged comment towards Theresa May. Corbyn has denied that he called May a stupid woman but there are many who doubt him. I have watched the video clip on numerous occasions and it does appear that he mothed the infamous words, but who knows. However, the image of parliament has been damaged not just by Corbyn but by the speaker John Bercow who failed to deal with the incident on the spot. Bercow should have demanded that Corbyn apologise, and end of story. Whether he said "stupid woman" or "stupid people", he still should have offered his regrets.
So, while parliament is reeling from the Brexit chaos, we are going to have a long drawn-out probe into whether he did or did not say the now infamous words. For the Labour Party the whole episode is a nightmare. "Only Jeremy Corbyn could turn our mess into his mess and unite the #Conservatives #Brexit #Useless," Conservative lawmaker Anna Soubry tweeted. And she is not wrong. May is lucky because the leader of the opposition appears to be more confused than she is at the moment. And as for the Speaker he should forget his jokes and try and bring the House to order. The world is watching and at the moment the House of Commons is in a bigger mess than Brexit. Not exactly the best way forward.