THE former speaker of the House of Commons has called for a rule preventing MPs from calling other members liars to be changed.
John Bercow, who recently joined Labour after serving as a Tory MP then speaker of the house, has made a recommendation on how MPs can highlight untruthfulness in the House of Commons.
His comments come after Labour MP Dawn Butler was removed from the Commons after she refused to withdraw comments calling Boris Johnson a liar.
In an article for The Times written co-authored by Butler and Bercow, the two set out why the rule from a "bygone age" must change.
READ MORE: Dawn Butler speaks out after being kicked out of Commons for Johnson lying comments
Under current parliamentary rules, no MP can accuse another of dishonesty unless they do so on a motion concerning that conduct.
The rule was made at a time when members would seek to tell the truth and quickly apologise and correct the record if they misled the House inadvertently.
"This prime minister – and, indeed this government – have no such scruples," Butler wrote.
READ MORE: Keir Starmer: Temporary speaker 'did the right thing' in Dawn Butler PM row
Bercow was an MP for 22 years and speaker of the house from 2009-2019. He served alongside five prime ministers and said none of the first four (Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Theresa May) "was ever guilty of lying".
Butler challenged that idea, saying Blair "may be guilty of lying about the Iraq war" but Bercow did not share that view.
Both, however, were "in no doubt whatsoever that Johnson is in a league of his own".
They listed lies around CO2 emissions, economic growth, poverty and NHS spending as just some that Johnson had told in the house without fear of being called out for them.
The speaker is able to urge ministers who had misled the House to correct the record but has little power outside of that.
READ MORE: Dawn Butler praised for 'strength and resilience' after saying Boris Johnson lies
The solution to prevent Johnson and future prime ministers from lying, Bercow says, is for MPs to force ministers to answer questions on their claims.
He said: "If every time the prime minister fibs, he is required to answer urgent question after urgent question or to stay to deal with a torrent of points of order about that dishonesty, it might start to concentrate his mind."
The Procedure Committee considers the practice and procedures of the House and can make recommendations about how these things can change. Bercow says it is "high time" for this committee to give MPs greater scope to highlight untruthfulness.
The committee is currently chaired by a Tory MP and has a total of 10 Tory members, five Labour and two from the SNP.
Labour leader Kier Starmer (above) spoke to LBC about the incident where he defended both Butler and the temporary speaker who ejected her, Judith Cummins.
"I agree with what Dawn had to say. I think the Prime Minister is the master of untruths and half-truths, and Dawn was simply giving some examples of that,” Starmer told listeners.
“I think there’s a lot of people that feel that, you know, it’s the person who’s not telling the truth rather than the person who’s calling it out that ought to be on the hotspot. So, I agree with Dawn on that.
“But I do want to, in fairness to the temporary speaker, Judith Cummins, who was there, she did the right thing, she followed the rules because Parliament doesn’t allow you to call other parliamentarians liars in the chamber, so I don’t criticise the speaker … the deputy speaker for what she did, she was following the rules.
"But do I support Dawn in what she said? I absolutely do.”
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