‘I don’t want to be thrown out of Parliament again, so I will withdraw the fact that I am referring to the Member of Parliament as a racist because of her racist comments.’
Labour MP Dawn Butler was almost thrown out of the Commons for calling Reform MP Sarah Pochin a racist.
Speaking in parliament yesterday, Butler raised a point of order in which she said she was “completely offended” by comments from Pochin over the weekend.
Pochin had made racist and hateful remarks during a TalkTV phone-in on Saturday, in which she said that ‘it drives me mad when I see adverts full of black people, full of Asian people’.
Her comments caused widespread condemnation, with calls for her to resign and Wes Streeting slamming her comments as racist.
Speaking in the Commons, Butler labelled Pochin’s comments as “racist” and said they amounted to a breach of the MP’s code of conduct.
“It is a racist comment, and can you imagine the constituents of that MP going to see her knowing that she is a racist,” she said.
Deputy speaker Judith Cummins intervened after taking issue with MP’s use of the word ‘racist’, and asked Butler to withdraw the remark.
Cummins told her: “Can the honourable lady, please reflect on her language and withdraw the remark about another honourable member in this place.”
Butler rejected the intervention initially calling the comment once more ‘racist’.
After a back and forth, the deputy speaker said: “It’s not the comment the honourable member is referring to it’s the fact that she called the member a racist that is the issue.
“It may be that she considers that is dancing on the head of a pin, but it’s important that we all act with respect and set an example to the country.”
Butler replied: “It’s giving me deja vu. I appreciate that in this House that we are not supposed to be disrespectful and call Members of Parliament … what they actually are.
“Ultimately, the comment is a racist comment. It’s quite strange that I’m unable to call out the member for being racist, having made a racist comment.”
After repeatedly being asked to withdraw her claims, Butler replied: “I don’t want to be thrown out of Parliament again, so I will withdraw the fact that I am referring to the Member of Parliament as a racist because of her racist comments.”
Others couldn’t understand why Butler had been asked to withdraw her remarks, with Narinder Kaur posting on X: “Dawn Butler is almost thrown out of Commons for calling Sarah Pochin a racist.
“Why?”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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