Skinner kicked out of Commons for 'coke' joke

Last updated at 14:28 08 December 2005


Veteran Labour MP Dennis Skinner was thrown out of the Commons chamber today after aiming a drugs slur at shadow chancellor George Osborne.

As he complained about the state of the economy under Tory governments of the 1980s, Mr Skinner, MP for Bolsover, said: "The only thing that was growing then were the lines of coke in front of boy George and the rest of the Tories."

Speaker Michael Martin demanded he withdraw his accusation but the MP hit back: "That was in the News of the World and you know it."

Mr Skinner refused to take back his comment saying: "No, I'm not withdrawing it ... it's true", at which the Speaker said he must either do so or leave the chamber.

"I order you to leave the chamber," he eventually

said, before officially "naming" the MP.

In a session of questions on the economy, Mr Skinner responded to an attack from Conservative MP George Osborne, 34, a key ally of the party's new leader David Cameron, on the government's decision to cut its growth forecasts.

Mr Skinner, 73, a frequent critic of Prime Minister Tony Blair, is a no-nonsense traditional Labour MP, representing a former mining area in the north Midlands.

The Osborne drugs remark comes two days after David Cameron became leader of the Conservative party. He has shaken off questions over possible drug use that overshadowed the early stages of his campaign.

Mr Cameron has repeatedly declined to say whether he used hard drugs before he was elected a member of parliament.

The Conservative Party had no immediate comment.

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