Respect MP George Galloway was expelled from the Commons chamber last night after Speaker Michael Martin used a rarely employed procedure to enforce parliamentary discipline.
The fiery MP was "named" by the Speaker for breaching the rules of parliamentary debate - which carries the penalty of a five-day ban from the House.
Mr Martin used the sanction after the MP repeatedly ignored warnings in a speech in which he denounced the Commons standards and privileges committee as hypocritical and unjust.
He was sharply criticised by the committee in the wake of an investigation by the Commissioner for Parliamentary Standards, Sir Philip Mawer, into payments to an Iraq children's charity, the now-defunct Mariam Appeal. The anti-war MP had been speaking for more than an hour as he sought to defend himself against a motion to suspend him.
After repeated warnings from Mr Martin about attacking the integrity of committee members, Mr Galloway angrily protested: "Having told me you would protect me, we are now getting to the stage where you are going to have to throw me out of parliament prematurely."
As he was ordered from the chamber, he shouted he would continue his speech outside for anyone who wanted to hear it. MPs agreed without a vote to suspend Mr Galloway for 18 days. Under the "naming rule", Mr Galloway will be banned from the Commons for the remainder of this week.
The summer recess starts on Friday and Parliament does not return until October 8. Mr Galloway will be banned for a further 18 days from then.
Labour, Tory and Liberal Democrat front benches all endorsed the report and the sanction. The MP will be stripped of his salary for the period.
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