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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/dec/19/jeremy-corbyn-accused-of-calling-theresa-may-a-stupid-woman
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| Jeremy Corbyn accused of calling Theresa May a 'stupid woman' | Jeremy Corbyn accused of calling Theresa May a 'stupid woman' |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Conservative MPs have accused Jeremy Corbyn of calling Theresa May a “stupid woman” after their final exchanges during prime minister’s questions. | Conservative MPs have accused Jeremy Corbyn of calling Theresa May a “stupid woman” after their final exchanges during prime minister’s questions. |
| The Labour leader appeared to mutter the insult after the prime minister ended her exchange with him by mocking his decision not to call a vote of confidence. | The Labour leader appeared to mutter the insult after the prime minister ended her exchange with him by mocking his decision not to call a vote of confidence. |
| PMQs verdict: May puts spotlight on Corbyn with panto peroration | |
| A number of Conservative MPs, including the Commons leader, Andrea Leadsom, the Conservative vice-chairman Paul Scully, and the former Tory chair Patrick McLoughlin raised the matter with May in the House of Commons, with McLoughlin asking the Speaker, John Bercow, to censure Corbyn. | |
| A Labour spokesman denied Corbyn had made a sexist remark, saying Corbyn had said “stupid people”. | |
| Bercow pledged he would look at the footage after statements by ministers had concluded, and said he would expect Corbyn to return to the House of Commons if he needed to make a finding against him. | |
| Bercow had initially responded to shouts of, “Point of order!” at the end of the prime minister’s questions by saying he would deal with these after scheduled ministerial statements, prompting uproar among MPs. | |
| Yet he then took a point of order from McLoughlin, who said: “You may not have seen, during the exchanges during prime minister’s questions, that when the leader of the opposition sat down, he muttered word which were quite clearly visible, accusing the prime minister of being a ‘stupid woman’. Would it not be appropriate for him to come back in the chamber and apologise?” | |
| MPs shouted: “Shame!” and “disgrace!” but the Speaker said that he had not witnessed the alleged comments, saying: “I am not making an allegation and I am not denying or seeking to refute that of the right honourable gentleman. | |
| “It is incumbent on all members of this house to operate in accordance with its best conventions and to follow the conventions and courtesies. If a member has failed to do so, that member has a responsibility to apologise. | |
| “He is quite right to say that. What he cannot, and I’m sure does not expect me to do, is to pronounce a verdict in a circumstance which I did not witness, either in terms of seeing anything, or of hearing anything, And neither did my advisers.” | |
| A Labour spokesman said: “He did not call her a stupid woman so there’s no basis for an apology. He said stupid people.” The Labour leader is expected to make a statement on the matter later on Wednesday. | |
| After the end of prime minister’s questions, the atmosphere in the chamber became increasingly chaotic as swaths of the Tory benches tried to raise points of order to criticise Corbyn. | |
| Leadsom also criticised the Speaker himself, saying he had not apologised for previously calling her a “stupid woman” himself. Bercow was reported to the standards watchdog over the alleged comments made in May. | Leadsom also criticised the Speaker himself, saying he had not apologised for previously calling her a “stupid woman” himself. Bercow was reported to the standards watchdog over the alleged comments made in May. |
| “I would just like to ask, after your finding there that individuals who are found to have made unwelcome remarks should apologise, why it is that when an opposition party member found that you had called me a stupid woman you did not apologise in this chamber?” | |
| To loud shouts of, “Apologise!” from Tory MPs, Bercow said: “I dealt with that matter months ago in remarks that I made to the House of Commons, to which the right honourable lady, in our various meetings, has made no reference and which requires from the chair today no elaboration whatsoever.” | |
| In the furore, both staunch Brexiteer critics of the prime minister and Tory remainers united to criticise the Labour leader. | |
| Tory backbencher Anna Soubry, a prominent remainer, suggested Bercow was giving preferential treatment to Corbyn. She was followed shortly by Mark Francois, a hard Brexiteer and deputy chair of the European Research Group. Francois, one of the key organisers of a no-confidence vote in May, said: “I think you will find the video evidence is overwhelming … we cannot have misogynistic statements.” | |
| Earlier in the chamber, Scully raised the insult with the prime minister. “This year, when we’ve been celebrating 100 years of women getting the vote, do you think it’s appropriate language to call people a ‘stupid woman’ in this chamber?” he said. | |
| May initially looked confused but then said: “Can I say to my honourable friend that I think that everybody in this house, particularly in this 100th year of women getting the vote, should be aiming to encourage women to come into this chamber, and to stand in this chamber and should therefore use appropriate language in this chamber when they are referring to female members.” | May initially looked confused but then said: “Can I say to my honourable friend that I think that everybody in this house, particularly in this 100th year of women getting the vote, should be aiming to encourage women to come into this chamber, and to stand in this chamber and should therefore use appropriate language in this chamber when they are referring to female members.” |
| The apparent insult came in response to May’s putdown after her final question from Corbyn. “I know it’s the Christmas season and the pantomime season. He’s going to put a confidence vote – oh yes he is, oh no he isn’t,” she said. “I’ve got some advice. Look behind you! They are not impressed and neither is the country.” | |
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