Yahoo News Mo Mowlam: Fury after Stephen Barclay uses late Labour MP to urge Commons to 'come together' and support Brexit deal
Labour MPs reacted with fury after Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay referenced the late Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam as he urged the Commons to back the Government's Brexit deal.
Cries of "shame" were heard from the Opposition benches after Mr Barclay referred to the achievements of Ms Mowlam, a key Labour figure in securing the Good Friday Agreement, as he called on MPs from across all parties to "come together".
Mr Barclay then made a joke from the title of Ms Mowlam's book Momentum, adding: "In the days before it was a faction forcing out its own colleagues."
Following the remarks, Labour peer Lord Adonis tweeted: “Stephen Barclay loses House with tasteless reference to Mo Mowlam being ‘one of us’.”
Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry tweeted: "Deeply offensive of the Brexit Sec to use the memory of Mo Mowlem (sic) in the chamber to urge us to vote to leave the EU.
Deeply offensive of the Brexit Sec to use the memory of Mo Mowlem in the chamber to urge us to vote to leave the EU. Mo was a passionate European who believed it was in all our interests to stick together. She would never have stopped fighting for us to #Remain #PeoplesVote 🇪🇺🇬🇧
— Emily Thornberry (@EmilyThornberry)
"Mo was a passionate European who believed it was in all our interests to stick together. She would never have stopped fighting for us to #Remain."
Ben Bradshaw. Labour MP for Exeter, said: "Barclay, as always, badly misjudging the House. Forced to withdraw untrue claims about @Keir_Starmer & the earlier cross-party talks, having tastelessly invoked the memory of the great & much missed Mo Mowlem in his cause. #BrexitShambles #FinalSay #PeoplesVoteMarch."
Labour MPs shouting "shameful!" as @SteveBarclay cites memory of Mo Mowlam and her autobiography Momentum, with a barbed reference to Labour's grassroots organisation.
Not exactly reaching out to the Opposition, after PM's conciliatory tone.— Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh)
And MP Angela Eagle posted: “I knew Mo & she would not have welcomed the Brexit Secretary’s co-option of her good name for his own grubby little partisan purposes.”
Opening the debate on a Government motion asking MPs to approve its deal with the EU, Mr Barclay said: "This House called for a meaningful vote yet today some who champion that now suggest it should delay longer still.
Barclay, as always, badly misjudging the House. Forced to withdraw untrue claims about @Keir_Starmer & the earlier cross-party talks, having tastelessly invoked the memory of the great & much missed Mo Mowlem in his cause. #BrexitShambles #FinalSay #PeoplesVoteMarch
— Ben Bradshaw (@BenPBradshaw)
"I respect the intention of (Sir Oliver), who is someone who has supported the vote three times and has indicated his support today, but his amendment would render today's vote meaningless.
"It'd cause further delay when our constituents and our businesses want an end to uncertainty and are calling for us to get this done.
"The public will be appalled by pointless further delay.
"We need to get Brexit done by October 31 so the country can move forward and I ask (Sir Oliver), in that spirit, to withdraw his amendment."
