I was watching VEEP with my daughter and asked her which character from political shows like this that she would like to be. She said Malcolm Tucker. I did express surprise at this, but was too scared to tell her that this meant she wanted to be Priti Patel. She rarely reads this so I will be safe to make this comment on the blog!
To be fair to Priti Patel, it is not just her who has faced allegations of being a bully, the difference is that she has been found guilty of this. When The Thick of It was filmed at the end of Labour being in office, bullying was being cracked down on outside politics. I myself engaged in bullying behaviour when I was younger, back in the 1990's and I understand that my actions then were wrong. But times have rightly changed and my daughters wish to be Malcolm Tucker should never be realised.