A row has broken out in the Commons between an MP and the Speaker over the handling of Keith Vaz’s suspension.
Labour MP Mr Vaz was found by the Commons Standards Committee to have “disregarded” the law by “expressing a willingness” to help buy cocaine for male prostitutes – and has now been suspended for six months.
Speaker John Bercow asked Tory MP Andrew Bridgen to wrap up during a debate on the committee’s report.
But the pair then entered a bad-tempered spat, with Mr Bridgen accusing him of “defending the indefensible”, and Mr Bercow telling the MP: “Don’t mix it with the chair.”