SNP MPs rebuked for clapping in the Chamber. Will Tory and Labour hecklers be next?

The SNP have done a rather good job this afternoon of uniting the rest of the Commons against them by indulging in the shameful practice of – brace yourself – clapping in the Chamber. This is on top of trying to turf Dennis Skinner out of his preferred seat to the extent that the octogenarian Labour MP was too upset to come up with a terrible joke to crack during the Queen’s Speech festivities in the Commons. This truly is the sort of dramatic shake-up of Westminster that we were promised.

Speaker Bercow intervened after one particularly pointed bout of applause from the nationalist benches. He told them to respect the traditions of the House of Commons, and that he would ensure they had their opportunities to make speeches and ask questions.

Clapping isn’t banned in the Commons, but it is traditionally something members do not do. This is what the select committee on the modernisation of the House of Commons had to say about applause in 1998:

‘The current rules in relation to silence, which are more often honoured in the breach than in the observance, are described on page 391 of Erskine May: “Members must not disturb a Member who is speaking by hissing, chanting, clapping, booing, exclamations or other interruption”.