Dominic Raab awkwardly misnamed Paul O’Grady as he stood in for Rishi Sunak at Prime Minister Questions on Wednesday.
The blunder came after Chris Bryant launched into a heartfelt tribute to the “naughty and hilarious” O’Grady, even inviting the Deputy Prime Minister to the famous LGBTQ+ venue Royal Vauxhall Tavern where the MP would watch the entertainer’s stand-up set.
“Paul Grayson was an incredible comic”, Dominic Raab replied.
As the Commons erupted into laughter, Raab awkwardly corrected his error finally adding: “Paul O’Grady... but in terms of Lily Savage, some of that comedy broke glass ceilings and broke boundaries in a way that certainly politicians would struggle to do. So I agree with her.”
He then turned the tribute into defending comedy from “wokery” to jeers from the chamber, saying: “I also think it shows how we need greater, more rambunctious free speech and we need to avoid the wokery and the limitations on comedy which I’m afraid both of them would have had no time for.”
Dominic Raab mistakenly refers to Paul O’Grady as “Paul Grayson”, before answering Chris Bryant’s question about taking Lily Savage’s example and becoming a more generous nation…with a snipe about protecting comedians from “wokery” #pmqs
— Mikey Smith (@mikeysmith) March 29, 2023
In a newly surfaced clip, O’Grady recalled gigging at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, when a squad of 35 police officers - who he initially thought were strippers - raided the venue.
With the fear of “catching” the virus, the police officers wore rubber gloves when touching those inside the club.
O’Grady told gay rights activist Peter Tatchell: “I was doing the late show and I had only been in about 10 minutes when a copper burst in the dressing room and I thought he was a stripper, a male stripper dressed as a copper.
“He was so rude and so aggressive and when I came out on the stage, the place was heaving and they (the police) were all wearing rubber gloves. And of course, I said ‘oh good, have you come to do the washing up?’ There was pandemonium. People were scared.
“Tables and chairs were going over, the police were extremely aggressive. I went upstairs to the landlady and next thing there was a copper in the front room dragging her out and around leaving the children behind. And God only knows to this day why they raided it.
“The only thing I can put it down to was, we had the chief of police at the time, who was homophobic and of course, it was the height of the AIDS pandemic. So this is a perfect excuse for them all to come in and cause trouble. There was no need for it.”
O’Grady, who had campaigned against Section 28 and consistently raised money for HIV/Aids research, went on to be arrested in full drag during the raid, which became known as the “rubber glove” raid.
He was ordered to give a name by the police to which he responded “Lily Savage” and when they demanded her “real name”, he quick as a whip retorted: “Lily Veronica Mae Savage.”
O’Grady’s close friend and radio producer Malcolm Prince revealed his devastation at being one of the last people to visit him before his death.
“Yesterday afternoon I popped round to Paul’s for a good old catch-up”, he tweeted.
“Surrounded by his beloved dogs, he was laughing, smiling and full of life.”
The royal family’s official Twitter account paid tribute on Wednesday morning, posting an image of O’Grady with Camilla, after they both worked closely in support of Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.
The post read: “Deeply saddened to hear of the death of Paul O’Grady, who worked closely with Her Majesty in support of @Battersea, providing lots of laughter and many waggy-tailed memories.”
