Busy newsflow pushed the controversial passage of Priti’s Borders Bill out of the headlines, although there was one eyebrow-raising moment from last night still worth highlighting: Deputy Speaker Eleanor Laing losing her patience with SNP MPs attempting to prevent the vote by blocking the aye lobby and repeatedly intervening during the debate. As always, Laing put the misbehaving Members in their place…
Dawn Butler has once again tried to get herself booted out of the Commons for the sake of a few Twitter likes. Last time, it worked – this time, not so much. Standing to make a point of order this afternoon, Butler claimed Gillian Keegan had given “misleading information to MPs on the government’s handling of contracts during the pandemic“, and was “incorrect and wrong“. After discouraging “such long points of order”, Deputy Speaker Eleanor Laing politely pointed out that Butler’s claim “was not a matter for the chair”.
Sensing an opportunity to go viral, Butler then asked:
“I just wonder how we’re supposed to operate in Parliament if Ministers do not come to the House and tell the truth.”
After scolding Butler for accusing Gillian Keegan of lying, Laing gave her the chance to retract the statement. Butler tried again:
“The minister is rewriting history and I think we have a problem with that.”
Rather than giving Butler what she wants, Laing accepted the claim and let the issue pass. Another well-handled moment from Laing after she did the same thing with Zarah Sultana last week…
In a point of order this afternoon, Liam Fox raised a Point of Order referencing the extraordinary intervention in proceedings in Scotland yesterday, where implicating the First Minister was censored from Salmond’s evidence against Sturgeon. Fox quoted Salmond as saying:
“the complete breakdown of the necessary barriers which should exist between Government, political party, and indeed the prosecution authorities in any country which abides by the rule of law.”
Describing the analysis as one that would be a damning indictment in a tinpot dictatorship, Fox asked Deputy Speaker Eleanor Laing what could be done to “ensure the conduct of the Scottish Government does not bring politics in the whole of the United Kingdom into disrepute”.
Laing herself stressed the seriousness of the matter and how it affects “the bedrock of our constitutional settlement“, stressed her concern with “safeguarding democratic standards“, and went as far as almost encouraging him to bring it before the House once again. Guido gets the impression this is only the beginning…
Following up on the story Guido reported yesterday – that an EU-funded KCL and LSE research scheme sent MPs over a thousand fake letters mid-pandemic – a point of order was just raised in the Commons. Deputy Speaker Eleanor Laing condemned the fury-inducing time-wasting casework stitch-up:
“At a time like this it is hard to see how any responsible researcher could have thought that sending over 1000 spoof emails adding to this work load was a good idea. Or how any responsible ethics committee could have approved it, or indeed how any responsible body could have decided to fund it.
“Mr Speaker is extremely concerned about these matters and he will be writing directly to those involved”
A bollocking from the highest commoner in the land will no doubt be an accolade the researchers won’t forget in a hurry…
UPDATE 25/02: Read Mr Speaker’s bollocking in full –
A Tory Party fringe event this afternoon saw Tory deputy speakers Eleanor Laing and Nigel Evans speak at a “The Future of Parliament” chat hosted by Conservative Young Women, in which it was revealed the new Covid-friendly voting method in the Commons – with MPs tapping their vote in via a card reader in the No or Aye Lobbies – will stay forever post-pandemic, signalling an end to the ancient method of six Commons clerks recording votes by hand (and latterly by iPad), based on members’ name. Hopefully this will both speed up divisions and the time it takes to get MPs’ votes up on the Parliament website…
During the Zoom fringe event, Evans also revealed that while Big Ben’s scaffolding has begun to come down, it will take a whole six weeks for the metal casing to be removed entirely.
When asked about the legacy of John Bercow, both were very diplomatic however conceded the former speaker allowed too many Urgent Questions and Sir Lindsay has now got the balance right and is making the right procedural calls, including disallowing the Brady amendment. Finally, they supported the u-turn on cutting the number of seats in parliament and keeping the figure at 650 due to there now being no MEPs. Bravely they even spoke the unspeakable truth: that rejigging seat boundaries will actually “benefit the Tories”…
Nominations close for the role of Deputy Speaker today, with the election being held tomorrow. Guido brought you the list of candidates last year…
Peter Bone, an underdog contender for the role, and has sent MPs a comedy video urging them to end his contribution from the backbenches by relegating him to the Speaker’s chair:
Dear Colleagues,
If my email of yesterday didn’t convince you to vote for me as Deputy Speaker, this should be the clincher, as if you vote for me tomorrow, you’ll never have to hear this again!
With very best wishes,
Peter
Bone clearly hoping he won’t come in Beethoven’s 5th…
Guido understands Rosie Winterton is the only Labour candidate standing is therefore guaranteed the second Deputy Speaker spot leaving two up for grabs for the likely five Tory candidates.
Nigel Evans has been picking up momentum, securing the support of Tracey Crouch, Carolyn Harris, and Angus MacNeil; as well as picking up a lot of support from the new ‘blue-collar Tories’ – including his former Parliamentary assistant Simon Fell who is now the MP for Barrow and Furness.
David Amess and Robert Goodwill have been campaigning for the role for a shorter amount of time, and are also considered underdogs in the contest.
Eleanor Laing meanwhile is pitching more for the Labour vote with Chris Bryant and Wes Streeting on board. She will have to overcome memories of messing up in the Chair as MPs were voting on the election bill last year. Laing appeared to have not understood there was no committee stage for the bill and attempted to accept an amendment from Chris Leslie – leading to the face of Bercow having to take over. It was all very awkward.
Voting takes place tomorrow, with the top three candidates (provided at least one is female, Labour, or both) winning the three Deputy Speaker roles…
