‘It was me in the bust up’
Jason McCartney and Paula Sherriff were united on this occasion, handing in the petition against the planned closure of Huddersfield A&E COLNE Valley MP Jason McCartney has admitted he had a bust up with Dewsbury MP Paula Sherriff in the House of Commons.
The incident last January has been revealed following comments by Huddersfield MP Barry Sheerman.
Mr Sheerman raised an issue in the Commons saying the Speaker of the House should intervene over the case of “bullying” by a Conservative MP against a female Labour MP, which he said was “shameful.”
He declined to name the individuals in Parliament but the Examiner has since learned that the two MPs are Mr McCartney and Ms Sherriff.
Mr McCartney has confirmed the angry exchange and told the Examiner they had both been at fault for the bad-tempered row.
“We had a heated exchange about the NHS in early January,” he said.
“We both reported each other to our respective whips.
“We then met with whips present from both parties and we agreed we would all move on. It hasn’t been mentioned since then.
“We’ve both since been working hard to save A&E at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.”
He added: “Barry has known about this for months so I would question the timing of his intervention on something that happened on January 11.”
Ms Sherriff has refused to speak publicly about the incident but it has been reported that she requested security to intervene during the bust up following Prime Minister’s Questions.
Mr Sheerman said he had only found out about incident recently.
He added: “I chair the anti-bullying group and bullying is not just about children at school or people on the internet.
“It’s about the way we behave with each other. I raised it now because it was the last chance before the election.”
Parliamentary records show shortly before the flare up, Ms Sherriff had been told off in the chamber for heckling the Prime Minister.
Hansard files reveal she was reprimanded after she berated Theresa May over waiting times at Dewsbury A&E.
A question was asked by Batley and Spen MP, Tracy Brabin, and Ms Sherriff shouted at the Prime Minister before she could finish her response.
Speaker of the House, John Bercow, said of Ms Sherriff: “If she were behaving like this in another public place she would probably be subject to an antisocial behaviour order.”
Parliamentary records show she was unrepentant.
She said: “I was admonished by Mr Speaker today for berating the Prime Minister during PMQs, but let me be absolutely clear: I will continue to do that while this mismanagement of our national health service is on-going. I will never, ever stop fighting for our NHS.”