Tories in the House of Commons have come under fire after telling Labour MP Sarah Owen to “sit down”. The fiery exchange came after Conservative MP Paul Howell had apologised for suggesting three Labour MPs, including Ms Owen, should “shut up” in a recent Commons debate.
A HuffPost article later accused Mr Howell of failing to declare his 17 properties during that same debate. It was about whether Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng should be allowed to accept thousands of pounds in severance pay.
Raising a point of order in the chamber on Monday (November 28), the Sedgefield MP said the accusations on social media that he did not give an appropriate declaration of his interests were not true and that he had checked with the Commons Speaker’s office, reports PA.
He added: “Can I ask whether when a member of the opposition shadow cabinet and indeed an opposition whip repeats such a thing in the social media as an attack on my integrity, whether that should be apologised for here?”
Further to his point of order, Ms Owen, who retweeted the article on Mr Howell’s properties, said she would “totally respect and take on board the advice” from Sir Lindsay Hoyle’s office for conduct in the chamber but added: “Outside this place, thousands of people are struggling to pay their mortgage or afford one home, let alone 17. And now [they] may have found it not declarable… not declarable, but relevant.”
As she tried to continue her speech, several Tory MPs could be heard shouting from across the benches, with Commons Deputy Speaker Dame Rosie Winterton having to intervene.
Dame Rosie said: “The honourable lady has the right to have her say and don’t challenge me.”
Ms Owen added: “I’d be grateful, Madam Deputy Speaker, for your advice on how members like myself should respond when the honourable member for Sedgefield tells me to, and I quote, ‘shut up’ in this chamber, where I speak for my constituents and now he is also attempting to shut me up online as well. What message does this send to women who want to be in politics when they see men like that?”
Conservative MP Shaun Bailey (West Bromwich West), alongside others, could be heard telling Ms Owen to “sit down” as she spoke, with the Labour MP then subsequently replying: “Do you want to tell me to sit down out there?”
Mr Bailey then raised another point of order to ask Dame Rosie: “The honourable lady just turned around and said ‘you want to tell me to sit down out there?’. Now, I am pretty sure to me that sounds quite threatening. Is that in line with the code of conduct and members of this House?”
Dame Rosie replied: “I have to say to the honourable gentleman I found his conduct about 30 seconds ago not very courteous. So I think that this has indicated that two honourable members have put their points of view on record, I do suggest we leave it at that.
“That was not a very good advert for how our Parliament should work.”
