Attack poodle is a political epithet or pejorative that typically denotes a vociferous but utterly servile defender of a given political leader, party, or faction. It gained popular currency in 2002 when Paul Marsden a member of the British Parliament who ran afoul of the Labour party Chief Whip Hilary Armstrong charged that Prime Minister Tony Blair was setting out "one of his attack poodles" to bring him or her into line. It is a partly facetious expression that has been used in British and American politics, equivalent in meaning to a .