Foot in Mouth Award

Common card · No. 311471

The Foot in Mouth Award is presented each year by the Plain English Campaign for "a baffling comment by a public figure". The award was first made in 1993, when it was given to Ted Dexter, the chairman of selectors for the England cricket team. It was awarded again the following year, and, after a two-year break, annually from 1997 to 2022, after which it was not awarded from 2022 onward. The Plain English Campaign was set up in 1979 when the founder, Chrissie Maher, shredded hundreds of jargon-filled forms and documents in Parliament Square, London. The group gave their first awards the next year, rewarding organisations that used "plain English" and highlighting those that did not. Although the Foot in Mouth award was first presented in 1993, the group's 1991 awards gave acknowledgement to a confusing comment by Dan Quayle, then Vice President of the United States. The award has been presented 29 times, with only Boris Johnson and Rhodri Morgan receiving it more than once. Johnson won...

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