CALLS for a journalist to lose his parliamentary pass over a “sexist” and “misogynistic” description of an MP have been rejected by Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle.
Labour’s Barry Sheerman, MP for Huddersfield, criticised Quentin Letts, parliamentary sketch writer for The Times, over comments he made about Lyn Brown, Labour MP for West Ham, in Wednesday’s edition of the paper.
But Hoyle dismissed a suggestion to suspend Letts’s pass, noting the importance of the “freedom of the press”.
Letts wrote: “In an area normally reserved for deputy Speakers sat Lyn Brown (Lab, West Ham). ‘Yep!’ she kept clucking. ‘Shameful!’ A popping of her lacquered eyes. ‘Disgraceful!’ she spat, with a tweak of head and prim patting of hairdo. ‘Unbelievable! COWARD!!!!’ She was making such a racket that everyone kept looking her way.”
He later described Brown as “bouncing on her broomstick”.
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Sheerman, raising a point of order in the House of Commons, said: “I know all of us in this House are fair game for the media and all of us enjoy many of the political commentators and sketch writers.
“This morning’s edition of The Times carried a Quentin Letts article which I believe was sexist, misogynistic and totally unacceptable in the way he described … our honourable friend the member for West Ham, it was about everything but the substance of any speech.
“It was cruel, it was disgraceful, and I don’t know what we can do about it, but Quentin Letts specialises in that misogynistic approach, especially women in this chamber.
“Is it time that we withdrew his parliamentary press pass?”
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Hoyle replied: “No, in a nutshell … you’ve certainly put it on the record, what I would say it’s important it is about tolerance and moderate language.
“But in fairness, the freedom of the press, and I take the hits on some of it as well, [Sheerman] himself has also, what I would say is I think there is a level, and we all judge that level, and you’ve judged it to go beyond and I do accept that and that’s why you’ve put it on the record.
“I think for that purpose we’ll leave it there.”
Letts responded on Twitter: “Great excitement: I’ve been attacked by old Barry Sheerman!”
Parliamentary sketches are expected to offer a humorous take on the political events of the day.
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