MP suspended for mace protest
Thursday, 15 January 2009 12:00 AM
By politics.co.uk staff
Leftwing Labour MP John McDonnell has been suspended from parliament for five days after protesting about the government's go-ahead for an expansion of Heathrow airport.
The renegade backbencher, whose constituency contains the airport, strode down the steps in the Commons and picked up the ceremonial mace which is kept in the central passage.
He told the BBC: "I thought we'd have a vote at the end of the debate, then the secretary of state said there would be no vote.
"I asserted the right of MPs to vote on this issue and I took the traditional root which extends back to Cromwell's days and I lifted the mace and I placed it on the benches."
He continued: "I said to the Speaker this is about the right of MPs to come to the Commons to decide the policies of this country not to have them bulldozed through by the government without a vote.
"It was restating the value of democracy and the overriding authority of the Commons."
The protest followed a stormy session in the Commons when many MPs reacted angrily to transport secretary Geoff Hoon's announcement of a third runway at Heathrow.
Both opposition parties have promised to cancel the decision if they attain power.
When Liberal Democrat transport spokesman Norman Baker told the Commons this, Mr Hoon responded: "I'm sorry the House had to suffer that tirade."
Mr McDonnell previously reached the public eye when he became the sole Labour MP to challenge Gordon Brown for the leadership of the party.
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