Zarah Sultana
Main Page: Zarah Sultana (Independent - Coventry South)(2 years, 10 months ago)
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Zarah Sultana (Coventry South) (Lab)
On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I have informed the hon. Member for Calder Valley (Craig Whittaker) that I will be referring to him.
In July 2020, the hon. Member for Calder Valley told LBC that
“sections of the community…are not taking the pandemic seriously”.
When asked if he was talking about Muslims, he said, “Of course.” When challenged, he refused to apologise.
We now know that just a few weeks earlier the Prime Minister had attended a boozy party in Downing Street and No. 10 staffers had been wheeling suitcases of drink to work, but I note that the hon. Member for Calder Valley has not condemned that behaviour as
“not taking the pandemic seriously”.
This weekend a member of the public wrote to the hon. Member, copying me into the email and raising her concerns about his comments. He replied, not apologising for his divisive remarks but insulting me instead.
Can you advise me, Madam Deputy Speaker, on how I can bring the hon. Member for Calder Valley to the Chamber to apologise, not just for insulting me but, more important, for his offensive slur against British Muslims?
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)
I thank the hon. Lady for her point of order, and for giving me notice that she intended to make it.
It will, of course, be obvious that the Chair is not, and cannot possibly be, responsible for the content of Members’ correspondence with members of the public, but I understand why the hon. Lady is upset by that exchange. Let me simply say that all Members should bear in mind these words in “Erskine May”:
“Good temper and moderation are the characteristics of parliamentary language.”
Of course, when one is acting in the capacity of a Member of Parliament, parliamentary language extends beyond this Chamber and this House to correspondence and other matters as well. I will simply recommend that all Members adopt a tone of “good temper and moderation”.
I am afraid that I cannot give the hon. Lady advice on how to bring the hon. Member for Calder Valley (Craig Whittaker) to the Chamber, as he is not responsible to the Chair or to the Chamber but, of course, to his own constituents.