27 October 2026

Can you name the MP? Labour - East Midlands Play now

Top ten political gaffes of 2013: 6 – Godfrey ‘Bongo Bongo’ Bloom

Alex Stevenson

Top ten political gaffes of 2013: 6 - Godfrey 'Bongo Bongo' Bloom

It's that man again. This time round it was his comments on foreign aid which were getting him in trouble.

"How we can possibly be giving a billion pounds a month when we're in this sort of debt to bongo bongo land is completely beyond me," he declared in a public meeting.

It's the sort of joke which would have been judged politically incorrect in Yes, Minister, let alone 21st century Britain. And it was a mistake.

"We are asking Godfrey not to use this phrase again, as it might be considered disparaging by members from other countries," Ukip chairman Steve Crowther sighed. Leader Nigel Farage had to phone up poor old Godders and tell him not to do it again. It was another strike against Bloom – with the third one just around the corner.

Click here for number five in our list – from a man still getting used to social media…

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