Extraordinary scenes in the House of Commons today. Tory MPs believed that Jeremy Corbyn muttered ‘stupid woman’ in Theresa May’s direction as she mocked him over his failure to call a confidence vote. (Corbyn’s spokesman has subsequently said that Corbyn said ‘stupid people’).
During the session, Paul Scully, a Tory vice-chairman, asked about the issue obliquely. But then at the end of the session, Patrick McLoughlin—the former chief whip—bellowed for a point of order. Bercow initially refused to take it as Corbyn left the chamber. But in the face of huge anger from the Tory benches, Bercow relented.
Bercow’s initial response was that neither he nor the clerks had seen the incident, so he couldn’t be expected to rule on it. But he said that if someone had used that language, they should apologise. Andrea Leadsom then rose to ask why Bercow had not apologised to her for allegedly calling her a ‘stupid woman’.
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