AN SNP MP has called for action after learning that Ukip took former English Defence leader Tommy Robinson to the House of Lords for a boozy, slap up, three-course-meal.
The 35-year-old - whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon - was “wined and dined” by Ukip peer Lord Pearson of Rannoch and the party’s leader Gerard Batten on Tuesday.
The men ate in the taxpayer-subsidised restaurant just moments after Robinson walked free from the Old Bailey after his contempt of court case was delayed.
In a point of order after Prime Minister’s Questions, the SNP’s Stewart McDonald called for something to be done.
He said: “It’s entirely correct that members of both houses engage in robust political debate around the parliamentary estate, but today we have learned that yesterday the violent, racist thug and fraudster known as Stephen Yaxley-Lennon or Tommy Robinson was invited on to the estate and wined and dined in the House of Lords.
“Mr Speaker, I understand that sometimes we have to engage with views that one might not agree with, but surely the fact that a man who is as guilty as he is of stirring up racial hatred, organising violent thuggish crimes around the country, setting up the EDL and everything that comes with it, crosses a line.
“And such a person shouldn’t be invited to walk among us on the parliamentary estate.”
Speaker John Bercow replied to say that while he shared McDonald’s assessment of Robinson, describing him as “a loathsome, obnoxious, repellent individual”, there was very little he as Speaker of the House of Commons could do.
Batten later attacked McDonald, tweeting: “Sickening spectacle of Scots ‘National Socialist’ MP @StewartMcDonald lying about Tommy Robinson in the Commons. Will he make the statement outside where he does not have immunity from libel action? Is he man enough? Or is he a moose loose in the hoose?”
On Tuesday, Robinson was released on bail, after his contempt of court case was referred to the Attorney General. Robinson faces an allegation that he had committed contempt by filming people before a criminal trial.
The Recorder of London, Judge Nicholas Hilliard, QC, said it would not be appropriate for him to deal with the case.
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