Today’s parliamentary tribute to Margaret Thatcher came to life with the intervention of Glenda Jackson. The Labour MP for Hampstead declared that Thatcher wreaked “the most heinous, social, economic and spiritual damage upon this country”, later adding: “a woman? not on my terms”.
Jackson was jeered and booed by Tory MPs, with Tony Baldry arguing in a point of order that her speech was against the “conventions of the House” as “this is not and has never been a general debate on the memory of the person who has been deceased, but an opportunity for tribute”. But John Bercow rejected the criticisim, stating that “nothing unparliamentary has occured”.
“We are debating a motion that says ‘this House has considered the matter of tributes to the Baroness Thatcher’ – that is what we are doing and nothing has got in the way of that.”
You can watch Jackson’s speech in full above.
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