IAN Blackford has been thrown out of the House of Commons after accusing the Prime Minister of having “wilfully misled” Parliament.
The SNP Westminster leader was asked to leave the chamber after being urged repeatedly by the Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, to withdraw the remarks but refused to and ultimately left the chamber as he was being removed.
In his question to the PM, Mr Blackford stated that “he has wilfully misled Parliament” but the Speaker told him he would “have to withdraw misled”.
But an angry SNP Westminster leader replied: “The Prime Minister has misled the house.”
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But Mr Hoyle said: “Unless you withdraw, I will have to stop and that’s not good.”
Mr Blackford refused to withdraw the remark.
Instead, he said: “I’m standing up for my constituents that know that this Prime Minister has lied and misled the house.”
The Speaker, his patience wearing thin, gave Mr Blackford “one more chance” to withdraw the remark, stressing that “as leader of the SNP, I don’t want to throw you out” - with Mr Blackford urged to change the remark to "inadvertently misled".
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But Mr Blackford pointed at the Prime Minister and stated: “That man has misled the house.”
The Speaker said: “I’m sorry it’s come to this and I’m sorry the leader of the party has not got the decency to just withdraw those words in order for this debate to be represented by all political leaders.”
Mr Blackford initially appeared to backtrack, stating “the Prime Minister may have inadvertently misled the house”, but then added :”It’s not my fault if the Prime Minister can’t be trusted to tell the truth.”
As Mr Hoyle began to officially throw Mr Blackford out of the chamber, the SNP Westminster leader left.
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