Countries that did not openlycriticise America's stance seemed to be sending a message through the loftiness of the representatives that they sent to the respective get-togethers.
For MPs to openlycriticise the Speaker breaks a long-standing Commons convention, while the last time a Speaker was forced from office was in 1695 - when Sir John Trevor was found guilty by the House of "a high crime and misdemeanour".
If the impression takes hold that cabinet members can openlycriticise colleagues and government decisions without resigning, Eurosceptics such as Iain Duncan Smith (the work and pensions secretary) and Owen Paterson (the Northern Ireland secretary) will feel more liberated to speak out too.
And she was one of the first Labour MPs openly to criticise Peter Mandelson, Tony Blair's close confidant and formerly Northern Ireland Secretary, famously calling him a source of "poison" in the government.
Placed under house arrest for a decade, Mr Montazeri continued to criticise the government, siding openly with the reformists after the tainted June elections.