A Conservative MP has been accused of shouting “Britain first” at Jeremy Corbyn in Commons today.
Just a week after Boris Johnson used the memory of Jo Cox as an ill-intentioned incentive to “get Brexit done”, Jake Berry further sullied her memory by yelling “Britain first” during a debate.
The killer of Jo Cox repeatedly shouted the same words as he shot and stabbed the Labour MP a week before the European Union referendum, it was reported at the time.
But that didn’t stop the Cabinet Minister for the Northern Powerhouse and Local Growth using it in parliament today.
Responding to Boris Johnson’s statement on Brexit, Berry screamed “Britain first! Britain first!”, which was picked up by Labour MP Richard Burgon.
He said:
“Unlike Johnson, Labour will always put the people first. But the Conservative Party needs to take a good hard look at itself”
Berry has denied the claims, saying: “I did not say that and it is a deliberately misleading representation.”
He said his actual words were: “Why don’t you put Britain first for once?”
Jo Cox sister spoke out last week after the Prime Minister laughed off MPs pleas to curb his “violent” and “dangerous” language.
She told Sky’s Sophy Ridge: “I think unfortunately things were pretty bad in 2016 when Jo was killed but I think it’s probably fair to say that they have got progressively worse.
“There was a short period of time when politicians and other people said we have to do things differently in the aftermath of Jo’s murder but I think it’s fair to say that since that time things have just got progressively worse.”
