Unparliamentary language is language that breaks the rules of politeness in the House of Commons Chamber. Part of the Speaker's role is to ensure that MPs do not use insulting or rude language and do not accuse each other of lying, being drunk or misrepresent each other's words. Words to which objection has been taken by the Speaker over the years include blackguard, coward, git, guttersnipe, hooligan, rat, swine, stoolpigeon and traitor. The Speaker will direct an MP who has used unparliamentary language to withdraw it. Refusal to withdraw a comment might lead to an MP being disciplined. MPs sometimes use considerable ingenuity to get around the rules; for example Winston Churchill famously used the phrase "terminological inexactitude" to mean "lie".
Roy Beggs: ...and are coming to the end of this Assembly mandate, so you ought to know the standards of debate. Paragraph 14 states: "The Assembly does not observe the concept of some expressions being deemed ‘unparliamentary’. Instead, the Chair requires Members to show each other respect in the Chamber, whether they are on their feet or seated. At all times, you must avoid making personalised...
Lord Judge: ...beginning of this, but the end of the beginning has possibly come into sight. For me, after the shambles of this dreadful piece of statutory—I could get carried away and then I would be speaking unparliamentary language, but noble Lords all know what I mean; I shall just stick to shambles—we can begin to make up for what has gone on over too many years.
Lindsay Hoyle: ...quite finished. What you have done is corrected, and put on record your views and opinions, and I am quite happy for that to be noted. I do not want to get into a debate. I hear that there was some unparliamentary language from both sides. I do not expect it. I do not want it. I want us to start going forward in the new year with more tolerance and better respect for each other. I do not...
Andrew Slaughter: ...to which they can rule on political decisions, such as Boris Johnson’s suspension of Parliament during Brexit negotiations in 2019.” I will not go on, partly because the article contains some unparliamentary language, and in fairness to the Justice Secretary it ends with the immortal line: “A source close to Mr Raab denied that he had ever compared himself to a vindaloo curry.” The...
Nigel Huddleston: ..., it was fair to say Smith did not suffer fools gladly. It has been interesting to do some background reading on Walter, and it is probably true to say that he would occasionally have used some unparliamentary language that I am not allowed to repeat this evening, tempted though I am. As we have heard again and again, Smith was not just a great football manager, but a great man. That was...
Steven Bonnar: ...about just how blasé the Tory party is when it comes to rules, regulations and the potential for financial gain. I am not saying that the MSP, or MP, for Moray is corrupt, because that would be unparliamentary, but when we consider the circles he moves in, we perhaps have pause for thought. Madam Deputy Speaker, I am not sure how au fait you are with the goings on in Scottish football...
Michael Gove: ...to new housing and development, and then, at a national policy level, call for even more houses to be built than this Government. Were it not for the fact that the phrase “hypocrisy” would be unparliamentary, that, I am afraid, would be the best description of the multi-faceted bottom-feeding perversion of consistency that is Liberal Democrat housing and planning policy. To describe it...
Munira Wilson: ...in six to 12 months’ time. On the rationale, it beggars belief that the central argument deployed by SWR is because punctuality and service levels have increased during the pandemic. I cannot use unparliamentary language here, but it seems as though SWR has only just discovered that bears do indeed relieve themselves in the woods. Of course, fewer services mean more punctual services....
Steve Aiken: On a point of order, Mr Principal Deputy Speaker. I could not possibly call the esteemed Member for East Antrim a main sewer. That is very unparliamentary language.
Kellie Armstrong: Thank you, Mr Principal Deputy Speaker. Earlier today, reference was made in the House to punishment beatings. I ask for a ruling from the Speaker's Office under Standing Order 65(1)(e) on unparliamentary language. The words may well have been used inadvertently, but such language is unhelpful, as it perpetrates the myth that victims are guilty of something and that such attacks are justified.
Brian Whittle: ...suggested that we need to consider our behaviour and language. Suggesting that anyone is using the deaths of others or that we are putting lives at risk for questioning the Scottish Government is unparliamentary and goes too far. I seek your opinion on whether parliamentary protocol has been breached.
Stephen Kerr: On a point of order, Presiding Officer. It was not possible to intervene on Mr Dornan when he was speaking. It is surely unparliamentary behaviour to cast the charge of dishonesty upon one’s opponents in the chamber.
Zarah Sultana: ...was a “cancer” everywhere I go, and soon, they said, “Europe will vomit you out.” A third called me a “terrorist sympathiser” and “scum of the earth”—and that is sanitising their unparliamentary language. I have discovered that to be a Muslim woman, to be outspoken and to be left-wing is to be subject to this barrage of racism and hate. It is to be treated by some as if I...
Jacob Rees-Mogg: ...only a Mayor with that sort of record who would try to get rid of his scrutinisers. I note he has one rule for himself and one rule for his scrutinisers. There is a word for that, but it might be unparliamentary.
Lord Watson of Invergowrie: ...idea—why didn’t I think of that?” Actually, any principal or governor of an FE college would have reacted with astonishment, probably with language that might politely be described as “unparliamentary”. I am not going to claim that every one of more than 200 FE colleges in England are faultless in how they go about their business or in the quality of their teaching. They employ...
Caroline Nokes: ...commitment, involving business rates and rent. For all of them, it is about risk and a cost-benefit analysis. They are brave and ballsy—as I have previously said and established, that is not unparliamentary language—women, who go out, take the risk and benefit from it, and in turn they become employers of other women. That is a model that we should absolutely be encouraging,...
Jim Shannon: ...used a lot of descriptive nouns for them without using any bad language, which I thought was quite good and I really relate to that. We could probably think of other things which would be unparliamentary and not appropriate. Nonetheless, it illustrates how we all feel. While recent business rates reductions during the pandemic were welcome, too many businesses find themselves with an...
Lord Rennard: ...are bigger threats from agents outside our borders than from someone who forgets to take their drivers’ licence (if they have one) to a polling station.” I feel that I cannot quite quote the unparliamentary language that she used to describe this proposal in her interview, but the word begins with the letter “b”. If the Government wanted elections to be fairer, they would be...
Emma Lewell-Buck: Five years ago this week, the former Member for Bolsover was asked to leave the Chamber for using unparliamentary language towards David Cameron regarding his personal finances. Does the Minister now agree that he was, and indeed remains, dodgy?
Liam McArthur: ...man-and-ball effort as the goalkeeper of the Scottish Parliament team, as we defeated the MPs at Parkhead. I wish that, at that stage, he had kept his feet on the bloody ground—apologies for that unparliamentary language, Presiding Officer. I am looking forward to hearing Jenny Marra’s speech—I had rather hoped that I would have heard it before now. She has spoken with authority on...