MP calls for new rules to govern name-calling and insults in the Chamber (stoolpigeon and blackguard are okay but pipsqueak is currently banned)

By Jonathan Walker on Oct 19, 12 11:46 AM in Politics

Black Country MP Tom Watson should be allowed to call Michael Gove "a miserable pipsqueak of a man" according to one colleague.

Chris Bryant (Lab Rhondda) called for a rethink of the rules governing which insults MPs are allowed to throw at each other.

Apparently, MPs have got away with calling each other "hooligan" and "idiot" - but when Mr Watson (Lab West Bromwich East) called the Education Secretary a pipsqueak in 2010, in a row over the cancellation of the Building Schools for the Future project, he was silenced and his microphone was turned off.

Mr Bryant demanded a rewrite of Erskine May, Parliament's rule book.

Speaking in Westminster Hall, Mr Bryant said: "He was told off for using the word 'pipsqueak' on 8 July 2010, yet the words 'stoolpigeon', 'hooligan', 'blackguard' and 'idiot' have all been used at various times by hon. Members and they have never been told off for using them.

"So I simply say that it is time for a greater degree of consistency about what we consider parliamentary and unparliamentary language. Indeed, I would say that it is time for a full redraft of Erskine May."

What better excuse could there be to show, once again, that footage of Mr Watson in action?