Dawn Butler
(Picture: Twitter/BBC)Dawn Butler was asked to leave the House of Commons yesterday after she accused Boris Johnson of “lying” to the public.
The Labour MP was asked to leave by temporary deputy speaker Judith Cummins for the remainder of the day after she made a number of comments about the Prime Minister’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
It is considered not within the boundaries of parliamentary etiquette to call another member a liar.
Butler said: “Poor people in our country have paid with their lives because the Prime Minister has spent the last 18 months misleading this House and the country over and over again.”
She highlighted disputed claims made by the Prime Minister including figures about the economy and the government’s record on coronavirus adding: “It’s dangerous to lie in a pandemic.
“I am disappointed the Prime Minister has not come to the House to correct the record and correct the fact that he has lied to this House and the country over and over again,” she said.
Cummins replied: “I’m sure that the member will reflect on her words she’s saying and perhaps correct the record.”
Butler replied: “What would you rather – a weakened leg or a severed leg?
“At the end of the day the Prime Minister has lied to this House time and time again.
“It’s funny that we get in trouble in this place for calling out the lie rather than the person lying.”
Cummins intervened again and urged Ms Butler to “reflect” on her words and withdraw them.
Butler replied: “I’ve reflected on my words and somebody needs to tell the truth in this House that the Prime Minister has lied.”
Cummins then read out a statement in which she ordered Butler to “withdraw immediately from the House for the remainder of the day’s sitting”, which she duly did.
Reacting to the tense exchange, people came out in support for the MP.
Dawn Butler daring to speak out & say what every other member of the Labour Party, including its dreadful leader, dare not to.
— Mikey Walsh (@thatbloodyMikey) July 22, 2021
Solidarity with her today for Holding this Disgusting Government to account. & carrying any shred we have left of opposition, on her shoulders.
Dawn Butler called Boris Johnson a liar and got kicked out of parliament? Huge last day of term vibes
— Esther Webber (@estwebber) July 22, 2021
If Dawn Butler can't say it in Parliament then we'll say it: Boris Johnson is a liar. https://t.co/GjkeERc888
— Momentum 🌹 (@PeoplesMomentum) July 22, 2021
Dawn Butler (@DawnButlerBrent) has been kicked out of the Commons for calling Boris Johnson a liar.
— Sam Bright (@WritesBright) July 22, 2021
It’s an affront to democracy that you can be ejected from the chamber for simply telling the truth.pic.twitter.com/U9rJMEni7z
👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻! Incredible! https://t.co/nNRpi23ffr
— Gary Neville (@GNev2) July 22, 2021
Good for Dawn, someone needs to do this.
— anne juliff (@patanna) July 22, 2021
British politics - where calling a proven liar a liar gets you kicked out of the room.
— Eddie Burfi (@EddieBurfi) July 22, 2021
Thank you Dawn Butler for not backing down and for calling it what it is. ✊🏽 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
We've got Dawn Butler doing the Speaker's job, Marcus Rashford doing Boris Johnson's job and UNICEF doing Jacob Rees-Mogg's job...
— Lloyd Hardy (@lloydhardy) July 22, 2021
...can we make these positions permanent?👍#DawnSpeaksForMe
Dawn Butler for prime minister!!!! This is the energy I live for. Boris Johnson is a liar and @DawnButlerBrent said what needed to be said. You can throw her out of parliament but you can’t throw her out of our hearts!! 🙏🏾🙌🏾👏🏾✨ https://t.co/U2MXnJ5OMD
— Kelechi (@kelechnekoff) July 22, 2021
Today Dawn Butler did not bring the House into disrepute for speaking truth about a liar but the Deputy Speaker did for supporting the lies of a liar and silencing someone speaking truth to power. https://t.co/uiZ6KsnWQs
— Dr Martin Character Matters (@MartinRemains) July 22, 2021
So much love for Dawn Butler 👑 https://t.co/TmKrcLfLoT
— Faiza Shaheen (@faizashaheen) July 22, 2021
The phrases #BorisJohnsonIsAliar and #DawnButlerSpeaksForMe were also trending as people backed the MP.
And people compared the incident to the time Labour MP Dennis Skinner was kicked out of the Commons in 2016 for calling the then Prime Minister “dodgy Dave”.
One of the reasons Dennis Skinner is, and always will be, a complete legend pic.twitter.com/E12jbs9yf1
— Jess 💜 (@BritishAOC) July 22, 2021
Dawn Butler joining the Dennis Skinner league 👌👏 Well done Dawn, we salute you. @DawnButlerBrent
— Sanjeev Banger🌹🇵🇸🏴🥃 (@SanjeevBanger79) July 22, 2021
Dennis Skinner vibes today. And it’s glorious 😃🥲 #DawnButler pic.twitter.com/FTzI1mjyav
— Puja Teli (@ThePujaTeli) July 22, 2021
But not everyone was in support:
There isn't even a Labour deputy leadership election in the offing & yet here is the cheap publicity stunt
— John Rentoul (@JohnRentoul) July 22, 2021
Pity Dawn Butler can’t stay permanently out of the commons, as she has nothing to add but hate, lies and bile.
— Kevin Edger (@KEdge23) July 22, 2021
One of the most divisive Labour MPs around, who seems to enjoy trying to create conflict and race/class wars. https://t.co/NBkOyQYJkk
We’re now going to do that whole ritualistic thing where people say “it’s a disgrace! Dawn Butler was telling the truth! Solidarity!” when the reality is she knows the rule, she knows the score, and she was just grandstanding.
— (((Dan Hodges))) (@DPJHodges) July 22, 2021
I don’t particularly see what Dawn Butler did in parliament today as clever, far from it. She knows what the rules are & what would happen.
— Chris Rose (@ArchRose90) July 22, 2021
Nothing edgy about it, just tacky grandstanding. If she doesn’t the rules then she should find a new job.
Lots of people tweeting admiringly about @DawnButlerBrent telling it as she sees it. In general, I'm all for politicians being authentic, but there's enough poison in our politics as it is and we should resist a descent to the name-calling that is common in some other countries
— Gavin Barwell (@GavinBarwell) July 22, 2021
Right-wing blog Guido Fawkes called it an “attention seeking stunt”.
The Government’s deputy chief whip Stuart Andrew also took exception to Butler’s speech.
He said: “It was disappointing to hear the constant accusation of cronyism and corruption. I took particular offence to being described as a member of a racist-enabling Government, as someone who has faced prejudice in my life.
“As someone who actually ended up hospital – and so did my father – because of my own sexuality, and also to be told that I don’t believe in the NHS when I spent most of my working life working for the hospice movement, and when we are told that we don’t care about poorer families when my dad spent a lot of time under unemployment and I had to have free school meals – I really do take exception to those sort of accusations.
“I will stand up to anyone who discriminates against any single person for who or what they are or who they love. I will defend the NHS for as long as I am alive.
“And I believe that the best way to help our poorest families is to give them the opportunity to have a job that pays well, because when they are able to defend and support themselves it is the best opportunity that they have for a better life.”
Butler herself later posted on Twitter, restating that she thought Johnson had “lied”.
The Prime Minister has lied to the house and the country. https://t.co/8SeUu72HnZ
— Dawn Butler MP✊🏾💙 (@DawnButlerBrent) July 22, 2021
In an interview with Byline TV, she added:
“Time and time again we’ve got Government ministers that have been literally caught with their pants down and nothing has been done with it.
“So if as a backbencher if I can’t call it out and say it how it is, who is going to do it?
“I think in ordinary times you have governments that are in the main honest and they are principled.
“What we’ve seen over the last 18 months is a government that’s truly corrupt to the core they will do whatever they want and whatever they like in order to get their hands on public money and to give that public money to their mates.
“We’ve seen an erosion of parliamentary democracy.”
Parliament is in recess now until September. Safe to say, it’s gone out with a bang.
