Tory MP calls David Cameron’s tax critics “low achievers”, gets destroyed on Twitter

David Cameron is enduring one of the toughest periods in his tenure as prime minister - and the latest comments from one of his Conservative colleagues won't do much to calm the offshore tax scandal situation.

Sir Alan Duncan, the millionaire Conservative MP for Rutland and Melton, used his House of Commons statement to offer an impassioned defence of his party's leader, calling his critics "low achievers" who don't understand wealth. In a fiery address to MPs,  he said:

"Shouldn’t the Prime Minister’s critics really just snap out of their synthetic indignation and admit that their real point is that they hate anyone who’s even got a hint of wealth in their life? May I support the Prime Minister in fending off those who are attacking him, particularly in thinking of this place? Because if he doesn’t, we risk seeing a House of Commons which is stuffed full of low achievers, who hate enterprise, hate people who look after their own family and who know absolute nothing about the outside world."

It probably won't surprise you to learn that it didn't go down very well. Labour MP Caroline Flint said: "It saddens me that he seems to suggest if you weren’t a millionaire you were a low achiever." Labour's Liz Kendall also criticised Sir Alan's statement 'cretinous' on Twitter. https://twitter.com/leicesterliz/status/719544967190945792 https://twitter.com/leicesterliz/status/719545338936340482 And the backlash didn't stop there. In fact, it arrived in an internet whirlwind. https://twitter.com/OwenJones84/status/719553922990501893?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw https://twitter.com/thisisamy_/status/719566707514351616?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw https://twitter.com/mrjamesob/status/719566579848097793?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw https://twitter.com/DanRebellato/status/719781609130602496 https://twitter.com/MichaelRosenYes/status/719761793263017984 https://twitter.com/davidschneider/status/719585154017202176 https://twitter.com/MissEllieMae/status/719581630504046592 https://twitter.com/Nissemus/status/719553383028432896 The Prime Minister took the opportunity to thank his Tory ally, who is reportedly paid £8,000 a month for the the equivalent of 12 hours work as a non-executive chairman of an oil company in the Middle East. He said:

"I'm very grateful for your support. We have a system of members' interests, which was put in place at the end of 13 years of a Labour government. I think we should maintain that system. I don't want us to discourage people who have had a successful career in business or anything else in coming into this House and making a contribution, and that's why I've said I think for prime ministers and chancellors, shadow prime ministers and shadow chancellors it's a different set of arrangements."

Sir Alan tweeted in response to critics of his comments, saying he didn't make himself clear in the Commons. https://twitter.com/AlanDuncanMP/status/719576084166098944 https://twitter.com/AlanDuncanMP/status/719576164289933312