Speeches by Butler.

“Thank you very much. For the record, the Minister was nodding. Question put and agreed to. Resolved, That this House has considered International Human Rights Day 2025.”

“Order. I want to get to the Front Benchers at 3.28 pm, which means that Members will get three minutes each to speak. There may be a vote at 4 pm, so I ask Members to please stick to time.”

“Order. I would like to get to the Front-Bench speakers by 12.28 pm, but I do not want to impose a formal time limit yet.”

“I remind Members that they should bob if they wish to be called in the debate. I call Juliet Campbell.”

“I call the Minister, and inform her that I would like to allow two minutes at the end for the hon. Member for Yeovil to wind up.”

“On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I would like to apologise for not taking the direction of the Chair yesterday.”

“Madam Deputy Speaker, I do not want to be thrown out of Parliament—again—so I will withdraw the fact that I am referring to the Member of Parliament as a racist because of her racist comments.”

“Madam Deputy Speaker, the comment that I referred to is absolutely a racist comment. Can we not call out that comment in this House? It is in breach of the Nolan principles for MPs. I want to know if you can help me in ensuring that—”

“Madam Deputy Speaker, let me just quote again what the hon. Member for Runcorn and Helsby said: “It drives me mad when I see adverts full of black people, full of Asian people…It doesn’t reflect our society”. Madam Deputy Speaker, that is a racist comment, and it is against the Nolan principles. How can we ensure that …”

“This is giving me déjà vu. I appreciate that in this House, we are not supposed to be disrespectful and call Members of Parliament what they actually are. Ultimately, the comment is a racist comment. It is quite strange that I am unable to call out the Member for being a racist, after she has made a racist comment.”

“I have.”

“On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. On Saturday, the hon. Member for Runcorn and Helsby (Sarah Pochin) said: “It drives me mad when I see adverts full of black people, full of Asian people”. The hon. Member also said: “It doesn’t reflect our society”. As the MP for Brent East, one of the most diverse constituenc…”

“I thank the Leader of the House for holding the Black History Month debate in Government time. The recent Government consultation on closing the ethnicity pay gap is important. The GMB’s report shows that there is a pay gap in Parliament. Will he help me to push forward action plans so that we can close it?”

“The Mother of the House receives more abuse than every single MP in this House. Sometimes I wonder about this disregard or disrespect. When I came into Parliament in 2005, there was only one black woman MP, the Mother of the House. The Mother of the House has suffered offensive and horrendous abuse. What do we do? How …”

“Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I should know better. I will have to google all their constituencies. Anyway, we have some amazing founding members of the black caucus, and that will go from strength to strength. Among all the positivity, I am tired. When we see 110,000 people marching in London led by a far-right rac…”

“I thank the Minister for talking about health inequalities in the black community. Does she agree that we need to look at how we use AI systems, so that we do not automate bias and discrimination through their use?”

“Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. We are all very proud that you have made history and sit in that big Chair for lots of people to see. I welcome the Government’s decision to hold today’s debate on Black History Month in Government time—something that I have called for many times. Before I forget, I want to congratulate…”

“On a point of order, Mr Speaker. At the beginning of Prime Minister’s questions, I rushed in while a question was being asked, and I want to apologise. I was rushing in from celebrating Diwali and the new year from my local temple in Willesden. On Monday I was celebrating Diwali and the new year at my local temple in N…”

“I, too, was a magistrate and heard lots of cases. The hon. Member might be coming to domestic violence, as there is a lot of knife crime in the home. However, I do not quite get the hon. Lady’s thread with regard to the police searching people and not finding knives. In August 2024, the police had a 10% success rate wi…”

“Will the hon. Member give way?”