Jess Phillips demands Boris Johnson apology as she accuses PM of 'inflaming hatred' with Jo Cox comments
4 min read
Jess Phillips has called on Boris Johnson to apologise as she accused him of stoking "hatred and division" amid mounting anger over his response to a question on murdered Labour MP Jo Cox.
The Birmingham Yardley MP, a friend and Labour colleague of Ms Cox, demanded a meeting with the Prime Minister and urged him to recognise how "abhorrent" his comments had been in a bitter debate on Wednesday night.
Amid angry scenes in the Commons, Mr Johnson appeared to dismiss Labour MP Paula Sheriff’s plea to tone down language referring to Ms Cox’s murder.
Pointing to Ms Cox’s memorial plaque in the chamber, Ms Sheriff said: “We stand here under the shield of our departed friend, with many of us subject to death threats and abuse every single day.
"And let me tell the Prime Minister that they often quote his words: surrender act, betrayal, traitor.
"I for one am sick of it. We must moderate our language and it has to come from the Prime Minister first."
But Mr Johnson shot back: "I've never heard such humbug in all my life."
Recounting the exchange, Ms Phillips said she did not feel anger towards the Prime Minister, but "pity" for supporters who had to "toe his line".
"The people opposite me know how appalling it was to describe the murder of my friend as mere humbug," she said.
“I want to ask the Prime Minister to apologise and to tell him that the bravest, strongest thing to say is sorry. It will make him look good. It will not upset the people who want Brexit in this country if he acts for once like a statesman.”
Responding to the Urgent Question, Cabinet Office minister Kevin Foster insisted the Government was working to create a safe environment for those in public life.
And he stressed that "no-one is a traitor for saying what they believe".
But Number 10 rejected the suggestion that Mr Johnson's language could fuel political violence, while condemning any threats made against MPs.
A Downing Street spokesperson said: "The PM is very clear that whatever their views, no MPs or anyone else in public life should face threats or intimidation. It is completely unacceptable...
"Whatever their views, no MPs or anyone else in public life should face threats or intimidation."
Number 10 also appeared to double down on the use of the phrase "Surrender Act" to describe the law passed by MPs which requires the Prime Minister to seek a Brexit extension from the EU if he cannot agree a deal by mid-October.
The spokesperson said the PM had "very serious concerns about that piece of legislation".
Mr Johnson has previously argued that the law "would oblige us to stay in the EU for month after month at a cost of a billion pounds per month" and said "it would take away from this country the ability to decide how long that extension would be".
'NO CREDIT'
Earlier on Thursday, Speaker John Bercow warned MPs to treat each other as “opponents not as enemies.”
“I think there is a widespread sense across the House and beyond, that yesterday the House did itself no credit,” he said.
“There was an atmosphere in the chamber worse than any I've known in my 22 years in the House.
“On both sides passions were inflamed, angry words were uttered, the culture was toxic.”
On the Urgent Question requested by Ms Phillips, he added: “As far as I’m concerned it should not be in any way, at any time, to any degree, a matter for partisan point-scoring.”
Meanwhile Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn piled pressure on Mr Johnson to apologise for his “disgraceful” language.
He warned: “The language that politicians use matters and has real consequences.
“To dismiss the concerns of members of the death threats they receive and to dismiss concerns that the language used by the Prime Minister is being repeated in those death threats is reprehensible.”
Former Tory MP Justine Greening also condemned Mr Johnson’s “unacceptable conduct” - and said British politics was now in a "deliberate race to the bottom".
Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson meanwhile hit out at the “very obviously deliberate” use of "Trumpian" and "inflammatory" language.
“I want to be able to say to young women and all young people that they should play their role in public life and we need to be able to, those of us in this House, create the environment that enables those young people to come forward in to our public life and I fear that we are failing to do so,” she warned.
But Conservative former Cabinet minister Maria Miller hit back at Ms Phillips, accusing her of "screaming the loudest" during Wednesday night's heated Commons scenes.
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