Proceedings on the naming of a Member

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Contents

21.50When a Member is named by the Speaker for grossly disorderly conduct (Standing Order No 43) or for disregarding the authority of the Chair or for persistently or wilfully obstructing the business of the House by abusing the rules of the House, or otherwise (Standing Order No 44), a motion may be made ‘That Mr/Ms… [the offending Member] be suspended from the service of the House’; and the question on that motion must be put forthwith (Standing Order No 44).1 Such a motion is expected to be moved by the Leader of the House (if present) or by another Minister.

When a Member is named by the Chairman to a Committee of the whole House, the Chairman forthwith suspends the proceedings of the Committee and reports the circumstances to the House; and the Speaker or Deputy Speaker, on a motion being made for the suspension of the offending Member from the service of the House, forthwith puts the question, as if the offence had been committed in the House itself.

Proceedings on a motion for the suspension of a Member under Standing Order No 44 are exempt from interruption under Standing Order No 9. They may be taken after the moment of interruption.2

Not more than one Member may be named at a time unless several Members present together have jointly disregarded the authority of the Chair.3

Suspension continues on the first occasion for five sitting days,4 and on the second occasion for 20 sitting days,5 including in either case the day on which the Member was suspended, and on any subsequent occasion until the House orders that the Member's suspension shall terminate or, in default of such order, for the remainder of the session. The first (or subsequent) occasion has been interpreted to mean the first (or subsequent) occasion in the same session. A suspension for wilful disregard of the authority of the Chair has been combined with a suspension proposed by the Committee on Standards and Privileges.6

A Member who is suspended from the service of the House under this order is required by Standing Order No 45 to withdraw from the House forthwith. If a Member does not withdraw, they will be directed to do so by the Speaker. If the Member does not comply with the direction, the Speaker will order the Serjeant at Arms to summon them to obey the Speaker's direction.7 If there is still a refusal to obey, the Speaker will call the attention of the House to the fact that recourse to force is necessary in order to compel obedience to their direction, and will direct the Serjeant to remove the non-compliant Member. The Standing Order provides that in such a case the Member shall thereupon, without any further question being put, be suspended from the service of the House for the remainder of the session.8

Where the Speaker has directed the Serjeant to cause a Member who had been suspended but refused to leave to be removed from the House, the sitting has been suspended until the Member had been removed.9

Footnotes

  1. 1. HC Deb (15 January 2009) 486, c 367; ibid (18 September 2012) 550, c 792. Members ordered to withdraw during Question Time have been named at the conclusion of questions prior to the next business, HC Deb (13 July 2022) 718, c 332.
  2. 2. HC Deb (1987–88) 123, c 232.
  3. 3. For instances of several Members being named at the same time, see CJ (1926) 117; HC Deb (1981–82) 13, cc 24–25.
  4. 4. SO No 44(2). Between 1902 and 1926 no period was assigned by the Standing Order, and suspension therefore continued until the end of the session unless sooner terminated by the House, CJ (1902) 130; ibid (1912–13) 349; ibid (1913) 75; ibid (1916) 211; ibid (1920) 395; ibid (1923) 176, 321. Although a motion to rescind or terminate the suspension of a Member is not entitled to priority as a question of privilege, the Speaker has accorded priority to such a motion when it appeared that the Member had been named in error for disregarding the authority of the Chair, Parl Deb (1901) 90, cc 699, 831.
  5. 5. HC Deb (1980–81) 8, c 1159.
  6. 6. HC Deb (23 July 2007) 463, cc 610–38.
  7. 7. HC Deb (1967–68) 765, c 895; ibid (1981–82) 13, c 25; ibid (1987–88) 123, cc 232–33.
  8. 8. SO No 44(4), introduced as para (4) of then SO No 21 in 1901: see CJ (1901) 62, 65–67, and HC Deb (1901) 90, c 845 ff.
  9. 9. CJ (1916) 155; HC Deb (1916) 84, cc 1860–2; CJ (1917–18) 171; ibid (1918) 141; HC Deb (1918) 107, c 1410; CJ (1930–31) 333; for details of a case requiring the involvement of the Serjeant at Arms' officers and their obstruction by both the named Member and other Members, see Erskine May (24th edn, 2011), p 457 and CJ (1930–31) 333, 335, 338.