Labour MPs have taken aim at Nigel Farage after the Reform UK leader staged a protest at Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday.
Mr Farage opted not to take his seat in the House of Commons during the weekly despatch box bout.
Instead, the Clacton MP sat alongside long-time ally Arron Banks in the public gallery.
However, Labour MPs were among those pouring scorn over the Reform UK leader’s antics.
Home Office Minister Mike Tapp simply shared a snowflake emoji.
Meanwhile, Trade Minister Sir Chris Bryant said: “The thing is, Farage has always been a spectator happy to complain about the other players or the umpire but never take responsibility for the failures of his own policies. It’s a lucrative place of course, commenting from the touch line.”
Labour MP for Dunfermline and Dollar Graeme Downie added: “Like any bully, he can dish it out but can’t take it. What a wimp.”
Another Labour MP told The Mirror: “He’s obviously still unfamiliar with how PMQs work. Must be due to him hardly being there. Why doesn’t he bob like other backbenchers?”
Nigel Farage has been branded a ‘snowflake’
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PA
Under standard parliamentary procedure, Kemi Badenoch, as official Leader of the Opposition, gets to ask Sir Keir Starmer six questions a week.
Sir Ed Davey, as leader of the Liberal Democrats, the third largest party, gets to ask three questions. All other MPs can enter a ballot for one of 15 slots, in a random selection sometimes known as “the shuffle”.
However, the Speaker can call on MPs not listed in the order paper, with these MPs indicating a desire to speak by rising in their places, in a process known as “bobbing”.
The Speaker will call on these MPs if the order paper contains too few politicians from a particular side of the House.
Sir Lindsay Hoyle can call MPs if the shuffle suggests too many MPs from one side of the house
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PARLIAMENT.TVFormer Conservative MP Alex Stafford said that because Reform remains a “minor” party, they only be allowed to ask a question “every few weeks”.
Mr Stafford, who served as the MP for Rother Valley from 2019 to 2024, told GB News: “Every sort of four or five weeks, the leader of any minor party will get to ask the questions.
“So Nigel will get to ask questions every few weeks, not every week, but every few weeks. And the more MPs they get, more likelihood they’re going to get called.
“Also, the speaker is quite fair, if you go to the speaker and say, ‘I want to raise a particular issue’, for instance, Nigel could say ‘I’ve been maligned in Parliament’ and the Speaker generally then will try and call that MP to raise the question.”
Independent MP for Dewsbury and Batley Iqbal Mohamed has regularly heckled Nigel Farage
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PARLIAMENTLIVE.TVCommons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has only called Mr Farage six times since the 2024 General Election.
Sir Lindsay has been forced to interject during Mr Farage’s speeches on three occasions due to heckling.
The Speaker intervened twice on February 5 when Mr Farage slapped down an attack on Reform UK’s NHS policy.
Reform UK’s Chief Whip Lee Anderson also made a point of order after Mr Farage’s question on July 9 when Independent MP for Dewsbury and Batley Iqbal Mohamed constantly hectored the Clacton MP.
Labour MPs Josh Slinger, Imran Hussain, Preet Kaur Gill, Mike Tapp, Josh Simons, Matt Western, Nesil Caliskan, Rachel Taylor, Melania Onn, Adam Thompson, Kanishka Narayan, Bill Esterson, Andy MacNae, Richard Burgon, Calvin Bailey, Josie Gosling, John Whitby and Alan Strickland have all taken aim at Reform UK this year.
Between January 8 and October 22, Sir Keir has landed blows against Mr Farage at 18 PMQs.
Ex-Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner also attacked Mr Farage during her stand-in appearance on June 18.