Labour MP Almost Thrown Out Of Parliament For Calling Reform MP Racist

Labour MP Dawn Butler was almost thrown out of parliament for calling Runcorn and Helsby’s MP a ‘racist’, before withdrawing the comment.

In a point of order in the Commons, Mrs. Butler said she was ‘completely offended’ by Sarah Pochin’s comments over the weekend.

While appearing on TalkTV over the weekend, Ms Pochin responded to a viewer who was complaining about the demographics of advertising, saying they were ‘absolutely right’.

She then added that “it drives me mad when I see adverts full of black people, full of Asian people”.

Ms Pochin said that ‘it doesn’t reflect our society’ and ‘your average white person, average white family is… not represented any more’, before later apologising and saying her point had been ‘phrased poorly’.

Sarah Pochin

In response to this, Ms Butler dubbed Ms Pochin’s comment as ‘racist’, and called them a breach of the MP’s code of conduct.

“It is a racist comment, and can you imagine the constituents of that MP going to see her knowing that she is a racist,” she said.

“These comments appear to be in breach of MPs code of conduct, in particular the seven principles of public life.”

Intervening, Deputy Speaker Judith Cummins asked for the remark to be withdrawn, before later adding: “If you can please reflect on your remarks of calling a member of this House a racist and stick to the comments being racist.

“It may be that she considers that is dancing on the head of a pin, but it’s important that we all act with respect and set an example to the country.”

The Brent East MP said: “It’s giving me deja vu. I appreciate that in this House that we are not supposed to be disrespectful and call Members of Parliament … what they actually are.

“Ultimately, the comment is a racist comment. It’s quite strange that I’m unable to call out the member for being racist, having made a racist comment.”

She later added: “I don’t want to be thrown out of Parliament again, so I will withdraw the fact that I am referring to the Member of Parliament as a racist because of her racist comments.”

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Mr Farage, Reform leader and Clacton MP, said the remarks made by Sarah Pochin were ‘ugly’ and wrong’ but resisted calls for her suspension from the party.

Mr Farage insisted he did not believe the ‘intention’ behind her comments was ‘racist’ and suggested they should be read in the context of ‘DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) madness’.

“I am unhappy with what she has done,” said Mr Farage.

“I understand the basic point, but the way she put it, the way she worded it, was wrong and was ugly, and if I thought that the intention behind it was racist, I would have taken a lot more action than I have to date.”

Speaking to broadcasters, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said Mr Farage had ‘questions to answer’ over the remarks, which he described as an example of ‘shocking racism’.

“It’s shocking racism and it’s the sort of thing that will tear our country apart, and it tells you everything about Reform,” he said.

“Nigel Farage has got some questions to answer, because either he doesn’t consider it racist, which in my view is shocking in itself, or he does think it’s racist and he’s shown absolutely no leadership.

I’m the Prime Minister of the whole of our country, our reasonable, tolerant, diverse country, and I want to serve the whole country.

“He can’t even call out racism.”

In a statement following her initial remarks, Ms Pochin claimed she had been trying to say the advertising industry had gone “DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) mad”.

“My comments were phrased poorly and I apologise for any offence caused, which was not my intention,” she said.

“The point I was trying to make is that the British advertising agency world have gone DEI mad and many adverts are now unrepresentative of British society as a whole.

“I will endeavour to ensure my language is more accurate going forward.”