webofevil | Tobacco

In talking about the Growth and Infrastructure, Baroness Wheatcroft is sticking firmly to the ancient Lords convention that quotations, whenever possible, must be inexplicably misattributed:

Baroness Wheatcroft: I am reminded of that Tom Lehrer song when he bumps into Walter Raleigh, who is trying to explain to him about tobacco. “What?”, he says; “You do what?”. If someone goes home and announces that they have sold their rights for a few shares, that is the sort of response that they might get—“What?”.

In his day, Bob Newhart was a stand-up and sitcom star as big as Seinfeld in the 90s. This was one of his best known routines. Attributing it to Tom Lehrer is like talking about "Charles Dickens's beloved character, Sherlock Holmes":

As Lord Greaves said, "only in the House of Lords could someone quote Tom Lehrer and expect everyone present to understand the reference and remember the song."