Backlash after PM says best way to honour memory of ardent remainer to leave EU

The sister of the murdered Labour MP Jo Cox has called on Boris Johnson to reflect on his language, saying he was wrong to tell MPs they should honour Cox’s memory by delivering Brexit.

A backlash is growing over the prime minister’s language in the Commons on Wednesday after the acrimonious resumption of business, following the supreme court’s ruling the prime minister’s advice to the Queen to suspend parliament was unlawful.

There was uproar in the Commons on Wednesday as Johnson repeatedly berated MPs, rejected calls to temper his “dangerous and inflammatory” language and said the best way to honour the murdered Labour MP Jo Cox – an ardent remainer – was to “get Brexit done”.

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The controversy spilled into Thursday with Jo Cox’s sister Kim Leadbeater telling Sky News that she had been “mesmerised and dumbstruck” by the intemperate scenes and saying the assassinated MP’s name should not be used to silence debate.

“I think the prime minister needs to think very carefully about the language he uses,” she said, adding she hoped parliamentary debates would be calmer in the future.

“But I’m very clear that we all have a responsibility to think about the language we use, the way we treat each other and the way we speak to each other on a human level.”

In an apparent criticism of Johnson, she added: “But I’m also very clear that the last thing I want, and the last thing Jo would want, is for her name to be used in a way that silences debate.”

Play Video 2:43 Outrage as Boris Johnson dismisses dangers of inflammatory language as 'humbug' - video

Brendan Cox, the husband of the Labour MP, who was killed in 2016 by a far-right extremist, said he was “shocked” by the language Johnson used, but noted that the prime minister’s remarks were said “in the heat of the moment”.

“I’m sure, on reflection, it’s something that he would probably wish he hadn’t said,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “I think it was sloppy language and the wrong thing to say, but I don’t think that he is an evil man.

“What isn’t legitimate is to co-opt her memory or her beliefs for things that she didn’t believe in or didn’t say. I was thinking about how Jo would respond to it last night. She would have tried to take a generosity of spirit to it. And thought about how in this moment, you can step back from this growing inferno of rhetoric.”

In a statement at the start of Commons proceedings on Thursday, the Speaker, John Bercow said the atmosphere on Wednesday had been the worst he had ever witnessed.

“I think there’s a widespread sense across the house and beyond that yesterday the house did itself no credit,” he said. “There was an atmosphere in the chamber worse than any I’ve known in my 22 years in the house … On both sides passions were inflamed, angry words uttered, the culture was toxic.”

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He also suggested there could be a wider inquiry into the UK’s political culture. “I have, overnight, received an approach from two very senior members on either side of the house pressing the case for a formal consideration of our political culture going forward.”

Bercow’s intervention came after the former Tory MP Sir Nicholas Soames told Today that he was “absolutely appalled” by the language used in the Commons and called on Johnson to exercise restraint.

“I believe the job of the prime minister, even under difficult circumstances, is to try to bring the country together,” Soames said. “And what [he] did yesterday was to drive it further apart. This is not the way to carry on our public debate ….. I’ve never felt such a poisonous atmosphere and I deeply regret it and I apologise for it.”

Play Video Jess Phillips: Boris Johnson's language is 'designed to inflame hatred' – video

Other MPs spoke of the consequences outside parliament of some of the language used by politicians. The Lib Dem leader, Jo Swinson, said she had been forced to call the police over a death threat to her child on Wednesday.

“That has been dismissed as humbug,” she said. “This is a disgraceful state of affairs.”

Play Video 0:59 MPs react in disbelief as Bernard Jenkin defends Boris Johnson's rhetoric – video

The Labour MP Jess Phillips said Johnson’s declaration that he would “rather be found dead in a ditch” than not deliver Brexit had been quoted to her in a death threat.

“For him then to use the memory of my dead friend, who was murdered in the street, to try and hammer home one more time his point . The only person who has surrendered anything is Boris Johnson, and he has surrendered his morality,” she told ITV’s Peston.

The European commission also joined in criticism of the prime minister with a spokeswoman telling reporters: “We would remind everybody that respect is a fundamental value in all democracies.

“It is the responsibility of each and every politician to uphold our values. History has shown us what happens when they are not respected.”

Julian King, the European commissioner for the security union, tweeted a transcript of Johnson’s rejection of Labour MP Paula Sheriff’s plea not to resort to “offensive, dangerous or inflammatory language”.

King said: “Crass and dangerous. If you think extreme language doesn’t fuel political violence across Europe, including UK, then you’re not paying attention.”