Oral Answers to Questions

Dawn Butler Excerpts

Monday 26th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Anna Turley]

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for raising those cases. I would be happy to meet him to discuss it further and will look into it.

[Dawn Butler (Brent East) (Lab)]

MPs’ safety is paramount. After my speech in the Black History Month debate on Thursday, a shadow Minister posted a racially charged tweet online that has resulted in more abuse against me. Do Ministers accept that MPs are bound by the code of practice, and, at the very least, that they should not be racist online?

[The Minister for Security (Dan Jarvis)]

Let me give my hon. Friend an absolute assurance on how seriously we take those matters. The defending democracy taskforce provides the fulcrum point for us to respond to those threats across Government, and I know my hon. Friend will have heard and welcomed the protective security review that the Home Secretary announced a week ago.

--- Later in debate ---

[Anna Turley]

My hon. Friend is right. We are extremely proud of the fact that we have reduced the numbers of those crossing by boat by 40%, and deportations are up—we have removed over 80,000 people. Those numbers continue to bring down the pressure on the asylum system.

[Dawn Butler]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I need some clarification. After I posted my Black History Month speech last week, I received thousands of abusive messages. The shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Harborough, Oadby and Wigston (Neil O'Brien), posted:

“If you want to tax my constituents more to fund random handouts to your mates overseas then yes, that is ‘stolen wealth’—their money is not yours, they have done nothing wrong, and you can do one.”

That resulted in a racist pile-on, and I am troubled and concerned by the phrase “your mates overseas”. What exactly does the Member mean?

I am deeply concerned by this. It is not about the reparations debate—I can handle people disagreeing with that—but “The Code of Conduct” states that Members are required to “treat others with respect.” I have emailed the Member to ask for an explanation, but none was given. Mr Speaker, could you advise me on how I can obtain an explanation for what was meant?

[Mr Speaker]

Debate is very important in this House, but how we treat each other matters. We should think about the language and the words we choose. In the end—this is what worries me—how we treat each other in here is replicated, as has been shown in the number of tweets that followed. It has been raised and I am sure that everybody can learn from what has happened. Please, I hope that we will consider what we say to each other and the tone we use.