Introducing a new political term: Squeaky Bencher

Over the past few months I’ve become a regular listener to the podcast The Rest is Politics. I’m always interested to hear what former New Labour master of communications Alastair Campbell and former Conservative MP Rory Stewart have to say on current events; despite my best efforts to persuade my Politics students to listen, I feel that I have had a small success rate (although this will improve in the 2023/24 academic year!).

Whilst plugging his new book, Campbell has mentioned the creation of a new word: ‘perseviliance’ – a mixture of perseverance and resilience. Campbell is quoted describing this new term:

I like playing with and inventing words, and persevilience is the idea that to make change happen is not easy, and it requires both perseverance – keeping going when things are tough – and resilience – the ability to deal with a setback and come back stronger from it. Put the two together and you have a lot of the qualities needed to fight for change. I am glad you like the idea.

New words are created every year, with it estimated that 650 new words were added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2022. And so, how about an attempt at a new political term: squeaky bencher. The term came about during a Politics revision lesson in May; whilst going through key terms relating to Parliament – the Speaker, the Opposite, backbenchers, crossbenchers – we somehow came to the term squeaky bencher. I cannot remember the exact genesis, but I did scribble down some very rough ideas as suggested by a student.

So, what is a squeaky bencher?

One interpretation is that squeaky benchers describe MPs who are in a threatened position; they are squeaky due to being placed on a knife-edge (similar to Sir Alex Ferguson’s quote of “squeaky bum time” which describes a “tense climax”). Perhaps their stock within their party or within Parliament itself has become unstable, thereby potentially losing the whip of their party and ultimately their seat. The co-host of The Rest is Politics – Rory Stewart – could himself be labelled a squeaky bencher during his time in Parliament in 2019 when he came against the wrath of Boris Johnson over the crisis of Brexit (which ultimately, and very sadly for British politics, led to the loss of his seat in the December 2019 election). A more recent example of a squeaky bencher could include Dianne Abbot after the Labour Party suspended the whip in April 2023.

However, there is a second interpretation that is somewhat more appealing: the “squeak” in a squeaky bencher could allude to the squeaky, erratic wheel of a shopping trolley. As such, squeaky benchers could be deemed unpredictable MPs, particularly in terms of their voting record, their alliances, and their engagement with media (especially social media). The majority of Boris Johnson’s parliamentary career could be labelled in this way: continually flip-flopping on policies and positions, jumping into the Leave campaign as a way to further his career, briefing against Theresa May whilst serving under her in cabinet, before then embarking on a largely disastrous period as Prime Minister of the country from 2019 to 2022. Of course, Johnson was aided due to his media presence, cultivated throughout the early 21st century, which provided him with the platform to place himself above regular party politics. Although perhaps a common pattern of these types of squeaky benchers could be their downfall: their lack of solid principles or allies proves to be their undoing.

I would like to see the term squeaky bencher find wider acceptance, however, perhaps the split definitions may be its ultimate undoing. But big thanks to A-level student Stanley Brown for giving me so many ideas to discuss and ponder over the two years of his studies; perhaps there is room for him to delve into squeaky benchers as part of a university dissertation.