A Labour MP has been ordered to leave the House of Commons after saying that Boris Johnson has “lied to the House and the country over and over again”.
Dawn Butler, MP for Brent Central, was told to withdraw from the Chamber by temporary deputy speaker Judith Cummins after making the remarks. Calling another member a liar is not considered within the boundaries of parliamentary etiquette.
Butler said: “Poor people in our country have paid with their lives because the Prime Minister has spent the last 18 months misleading this House and the country over and over again.”
Butler highlighted a video by filmmaker Peter Stefanovic, viewed tens of millions of times, which details many false statements made by the Prime Minister during his time in office.
“He highlights the Prime Minister said the economy is growing by 73%, it’s just not true. Reinstating the nurses’ bursary, just not true. There wasn’t an app working anywhere in the world? Just wasn’t true. Tories invested £34 billion in the NHS? Not true. The Prime Minister said we have severed the link between infection and serious disease and death. Not only is this not true, madame deputy speaker, but it is dangerous. And it is dangerous to lie in a pandemic.
"And I am disappointed that the Prime Minister has not come to the House to correct the record and correct the fact that he has lied to this House and lied to the country over and over again."
Cummins intervened and said: “Order! Order! I’m sure that the member will reflect on her words she’s saying and perhaps correct the record.”
But a defiant Butler responded: “What would you rather – a weakened leg or a severed leg?
“At the end of the day the Prime Minister has lied to this House time and time again.
“It’s funny that we get in trouble in this place for calling out the lie rather than the person lying.”
Cummins intervened again and urged Butler to “reflect” on her words and withdraw them. When she refused to do so, she was ordered to withdraw from the House for the remainer of the day's sitting.
The Labour MP is not the first to find herself in trouble for saying the Prime Minister lies.
Back in April SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford was told his comments were “not savoury and not what we would expect” when he asked: “Are you a liar, Prime Minister?”
Blackford was challenging Johnson over reports that he said he would let the bodies pile high rather than have another Covid lockdown. The SNP MP pointed out that people had said they would go under oath to confirm the Tory leader made the comments, prompting him to ask the question that Speaker Lindsay Hoyle took issue with.
And in 2020 Blackford and Johnson found themselves in another heated exchange over the Internal Market Bill. Tory MPs accused Blackford of calling the PM a “liar” during the clash, and was told by Hoyle to withdraw it. “No honourable member would do that,” he told the MP.
Following the exchange today, Butler won praise from Stefanovic, who produced the video she drew examples of false statements from.
"Today the deputy speaker expelled courageous MP @DawnButlerBrent from the chamber for calling the Prime Minister a liar. Dawn Rocks," he wrote.
Legal campaigner Jolyon Maugham added: "Not good that the House of Commons has become a place where lies go unpunished but the truth cannot be told."
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