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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Politics
Rachel Wearmouth

Labour MP Zarah Sultana calls Tories 'dodgy' in furious row with Deputy Speaker

Labour MP Zarah Sultana clashed with the Deputy Speaker of the Commons after calling Tory MPs "dodgy".

The Coventry South MP was told to "moderate her language" by Dame Eleanor Laing, after she had laid into Transport Secretary Grant Shapps and Leader of the House Jacob Rees-Mogg as "dodgy" and part of a "corrupt" administration.

The Government has been under fire for two weeks over Tory sleaze after Mr Rees-Mogg led an attempt to rip up standards rules and get ex-Tory MP Owen Paterson off the hook for lobbying.

Mr Shapps, a keen pilot, has also faced claims he used taxpayers’ money to lobby against planning developments that infringe on airstrips - something he denies.

Ms Sultana said that he had lobbied against proposals for Coventy Airport,

She said: "From a dodgy transport secretary to dodgy Leader of the House, who last week tried to rewrite the rules to let his mate off the hook, this Conservative government is rotten to the core.

"Is the leader of the House proud of this shameful record?"

Dame Eleanor Laing requested four times that Ms Sutana withdraw the word “dodgy”, but Ms Sultana refused.

The MP said: “I don’t think another word suffices [for] the levels of corruption and what we’re seeing from this government.”

(PA)

Ms Laing said: "I'm asking the honourable lady to moderate her language.

"It is absolutely in order to have disagreement here. That's why we're here. But we must moderate language and be careful."

The Deputy Speaker, however, did not ask the MP to leave the Chamber and moved on to the next question.

Commenting after Ms Sultana said: “I thought I was already being generous by only calling Tory ministers ‘dodgy’.

"The public knows this is true – the second jobs scandal has exposed that – and MPs shouldn’t be afraid of saying so."

Boris Johnson's government on Wednesday voted for a shake-up of MPs code of conduct which is expected to include a ban on second paid political consultancy jobs for MPs.

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