Labour MP Jess Phillips has accused Boris Johnson of deliberately using language “entirely designed to inflame hatred and division”, following a hugely fractious debate in the Commons on Wednesday evening.
After MPs had convened in parliament for the first time since the Supreme Court ruled the PM’s prorogation unlawful, the debate over Brexit descended into “horrendous” scenes, culminating in pleas from MPs to stop using the language of “surrender” and “betrayal”.
The appeal, primarily from friends of murdered MP Jo Cox, were dismissed by Johnson as “humbug”, before he claimed the best way to “honour” her memory would be “to get Brexit done”.
Speaking during an urgent question on Thursday, Phillips said: “The use of language yesterday and over the past few weeks such as the surrender bill, such as invoking the war, such as betrayal and treachery, it has clearly been tested, and workshopped and worked up and entirely designed to inflame hatred and division.
“I get it, it works, it is working. It is not sincere, it is totally planned, it is completely and utterly a strategy designed by somebody to harm and cause hatred in our country.”
Phillips went on to describe Johnson as “abhorrent” for choosing “a strategy to divide rather than to lead” and asked for him to “meet with me in private with his advisers and some of his colleagues, and my friends from Jo’s family so we can explain our grief”.
Phillips’ comments were echoed by Cox’s widower, Brendan, who said he felt “sick” about the way his late wife’s name was being used in parliament.
In a post on Twitter he wrote: “The best way to honour Jo is for all of us (no matter our views) to stand up for what we believe in, passionately and with determination.
“But never to demonise the other side and always hold onto what we have in common.”
Johnson has been responding to Labour MP Paula Sherriff’s request directly to the prime minister to stop using language such as “surrender” or “betrayal”, stating that the words he used had often been echoed in death threats and abuse both her and her colleagues had received.
Members of the Conservative party have also since backed pleas for more moderate language, with Loughborough MP Nicky Morgan revealing she had shared death threats she had received with Johnson.
She said: “At a time of strong feelings we all need to remind ourselves of the effect of everything we say on those watching us.”
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn warned that the words politicians use “have real consequences” as he condemned the PM’s language, saying: “It’s extremely disappointing that the Prime Minister has not respected this House by attending here today.
“The Prime Minister’s language and demeanour yesterday was frankly nothing short of disgraceful.”