MP is ordered to leave for interrupting

Michael Martin, the recently elected Commons Speaker, yesterday took the highly unusual step of ordering out an MP for interrupting him during question time.

Michael Martin, the recently elected Commons Speaker, yesterday took the highly unusual step of ordering out an MP for interrupting him during question time.

Mr Martin took drastic action after John Butterfill, a Tory backbencher and contender for the Speaker post, raised a private point with him during Foreign Office question time.

Although he stopped short of naming the MP for Bourne-mouth West, Mr Martin said: "I have an honourable gentleman censoring me on the way that I call questions. I will not allow this and the honourable gentleman should take himself from the chamber."

Mr Butterfill - standing alongside the Speaker's chair - left the chamber immediately.

He said he was "owed an apology" from Mr Martin because he did not question the Speaker's authority in public. "I had already left a message in the Speaker's Office and I hoped to be able to catch his eye during question six (on Israel)," he said. "I was obviously disappointed that I hadn't. In the 18 years I have been in the House I have never done anything that would cause me to be reprimanded."

The incident is just the latest clash between the Tories and Mr Martin since his election to the post last month. Conservative MPs have repeatedly doubted Mr Martin's impartiality.