The consensus is in: Tom Mulcair, the NDP leader, got angry and defensive and lashed out at innocent reporters on Parliament Hill. Mulcair’s performance included a total meltdown and an attack on media, and his old persona, Angry Tom, reared its bearded head. That’s Twitter’s conclusion.

Mulcair’s party is in the middle of a bunch of corrosive headlines about misusing parliamentary funds. The party claims to have opened a legitimate satellite office in Montreal that assisted constituency work of NDP MPs. The party claims it followed all the rules. The Liberals and Conservatives are skeptical, and they’re claiming the NDP office participated in partisan activity. House staff say they didn’t know the party employed people in a Montreal office. The NDP claims it never hid the workers. Presumably, at least some of the details will be sorted when Mulcair testifies at committee tomorrow. But it’s a mess.

Reporters asked about the mess during a scrum, and Mulcair got “testy” with the reporters. Maybe he has something to hide. Maybe not. But he got angry, an emotion a politician is only supposed to direct at terrorists, or enemies mutually agreed among all parties. Just not if he’s plain old frustrated.

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