‘Stupid woman’ row rumbles on as Labour counter-attacks
LABOUR HAS hit back in the furious row over whether Jeremy Corbyn called Theresa May a “stupid woman”, accusing the Tories of fabricating a mini-riot in the Commons.
Tom Watson, Mr Corbyn’s deputy, and shadow foreign secretary Diane Abbott came to the defence of the opposition leader yesterday and said the row was overshadowing the rest of politics at a time of huge importance less than 100 days before Brexit.
Mr Corbyn was forced to deny calling Mrs May a “stupid woman” after the final Prime Minister’s Questions of the year descended into a bitter row.
He was brought back to the Commons to tell MPs he used the phrase “stupid people” after TV cameras picked him up as he said something inaudible to those sat with him after the Prime Minister likened his attempt to force a confidence vote in her to a Christmas pantomime.
Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom said yesterday that Mrs May’s performance was just “parliamentary banter”.
Ms Abbott said Tory MPs had “put on a display yesterday which Hackney primary school children would have been ashamed of ”.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that Mr Corbyn was an honest man and “if he has something to say sorry for he will always say sorry”.
She added: “To me it was contrived, staged behaviour, and the British people might wonder why the Tories will stage a mini-riot in Parliament over that but are not staging a mini-riot over the tens of thousands of people who are newly on Universal Credit and are facing Christmas with no money.”
Mr Watson told Good Morning Britain that Mr Corbyn had “got up at the dispatch box, he denied using those words, and that is good enough for me”.
Mr Watson added: “On a very personal level, I have been around a long time so you try not to let these things get to you.
“But of course, we have got Brexit, we have got loneliness, we have got millions of pensioners facing their TV (licence) cut, and being on TV talking about what Jeremy did or did not say is not great.”
The Conservatives continued their attack and attempted to drum up support for Mrs May’s party as the dispute rumbled on.
If he has something to say sorry for he will always say sorry. Diane Abbott comes to the defence of Jeremy Corbyn.