What are the rules on unparliamentary language – and which MPs have broken them?
Home Secretary James Cleverly been accused of calling the town of Stockton-on-Tees a “s**thole” in the Commons.
A source close to him denied this but admitted he called the area’s Labour MP “s***”.
The debacle comes weeks after reports he called the government’s Rwanda policy “bats***”.
Unparliamentary language is defined as anything that “breaks the rules of politeness of the House of Commons chamber”.
While MPs are disciplined for swearing during debates, convention also bans them from calling their colleagues liars or accusing them of being drunk, among other things.
Traditionally, some have used euphemisms to get around the rules – most famously Sir Winston Churchill when he said someone had told a “terminological exactitude” instead of a lie.
When politicians use words deemed unparliamentary, the speaker will either ask them to withdraw them, or if they refuse, leave the chamber.
Mhairi Black
First MP to say ‘c***’ in the Commons
The SNP’s Mhairi Black became the first MP in history to use the word “c***” in the Commons chamber in 2018.
Then the youngest-sitting MP – at 23 years old – she was detailing some of the misogynistic abuse she regularly received on social media.
Despite using the word, she was not disciplined as she was only quoting someone else’s use of it – and was not levelling it at one of her colleagues.
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Anna Soubry
‘Sanctimonious c***’
Former Conservative MP Anna Soubry was accused of calling Labour’s Ed Miliband a “sanctimonious c***” during a debate in 2015.
It was filmed for a BBC documentary but not used in the final edit.
However when allegations surfaced she furiously denied it, saying: “I would never use that word and I would never use it in the House of Commons.”
Ed Miliband
‘Dodgy’ and ‘hooliganism’
Ed Miliband has himself been in trouble for his use of language.
He escaped discipline when he called David Cameron a “dodgy prime minister surrounded by dodgy donors”.
Five years later in 2020, as shadow business secretary, he accused Boris Johnson of “legislative hooliganism” for supporting the Internal Markets Bill.
Although the word hooligan is banned, he was not reprimanded.
Tom Watson
‘Miserable pipsqueak of a man’
During his time as an MP, Tom Watson lost his temper when then education secretary Michael Gove revealed he was shelving nine school building projects in his constituency.
He described Mr Gove as a “miserable pipsqueak of a man” – and was asked to withdraw his comments.
Tony Marlow, former Conservative MP
‘Stupid cow’
Former speaker Betty Boothroyd ruled that Conservative MP Tony Marlow had used unparliamentary language by calling Labour MP Harriet Harman a “stupid cow” during a debate on the BSE epidemic of 1996.
Ms Harman has since commented on the misogynism she has faced during her career in politics.
Penny Mordaunt
‘C**k, lay and laid’ in poultry welfare speech
Former minister Penny Mordaunt was accused of trivialising parliament in 2014 when she used the words “c**k”, “lay” and “laid” multiple times during a speech on poultry welfare.
She later revealed in a newspaper interview that her fellow Navy reservists had dared her to do it.
Dawn Butler
Kicked out for calling PM a liar
Labour MP Dawn Butler was ordered to leave the Commons when she refused to withdraw accusations that Boris Johnson was a liar in 2021.
She claimed that the then-PM had “lied to the House and the country over and over again” – about economic growth and public sector salaries among other things.
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren has called on government officials to address questions related to US President Donald Trump’s memecoin and his media company.
In an April 25 letter to Jamieson Greer, acting director of the US Office of Government Ethics (OGE), Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts and California Democratic Senator Adam Schiff requested that officials address concerns about Trump’s memecoin after the president announced a dinner and White House tour for some of the individuals who held the most TRUMP tokens. The two senators requested that Greer provide information on safeguards and guidelines related to whether foreign actors and others could buy political influence with the president, potentially impacting his policy positions and federal pardons.
“President Trump’s announcement promises exclusive access to the presidency in exchange for significant investment in one of the President’s business ventures,” wrote the two senators.
“In promising such access, this proposition may implicate several federal ethics laws and constitutional prohibitions, including the federal bribery statute and emoluments clauses of the US Constitution. It also raises the troubling prospect that foreign actors are using the memecoin as a vector to buy influence with President Trump and his associates without needing to disclose their identities publicly.”
The letter was sent the same day Warren reportedly expressed similar concerns about Trump’s potential conflicts of interest with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). According to an April 25 Reuters report, the Massachusetts senator urged SEC Chair Paul Atkins to ensure that oversight of Trump’s media company was “free from undue political interference and influence from the President and his administration.”
Related: Trump’s WLFI crypto investments aren’t paying off
Though ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, Warren does not have the authority to direct Congress’s agenda with Democrats in the minority. Two Democrats in the Senate and House of Representatives have already called for Trump’s impeachment over his memecoin dinner.
Warren added:
“The American people deserve the unwavering assurance that access to the presidency is not being offered for sale to the highest bidder in exchange for the President’s own financial gain.”
At the time of publication, it was unclear who among the top TRUMP memecoin holders would attend the dinner, scheduled to be held on May 22 at Trump’s golf club in Washington, DC. Speculation and analysis of users suggested that Trump supporters, including Tron founder Justin Sun, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and others, could attend, though none had been confirmed as of April 28.
Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions
Crypto users betting on the outcome of the snap election to determine the next Prime Minister of Canada appear to be favoring a Liberal Party victory as residents head to cast their votes.
As of April 28, cryptocurrency betting platform Polymarket gave current Canadian Prime Minister and Liberal Party candidate Mark Carney a 79% chance of defeating Conservative Party candidate Pierre Poilievre in the race for the country’s next PM. Data from the platform showed users had poured more than $75 million into bets surrounding the race, predicting a Poilievre or Carney victory.
The odds suggested by the platform, as well as those from many polls, show a nearly complete reversal of fortunes between the two candidates after former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau resigned in January. Trudeau and, by association, many in the Liberal Party, faced criticism over the handling of Canada’s housing crisis and questions about how he would face US President Donald Trump’s then-proposed tariffs.
Following Trudeau’s resignation, Trump stepped up rhetoric disparaging Canada, repeatedly referring to the country as the US’s “51st state” and Trudeau as its “governor.” The US President also imposed a 25% tariff on goods imported from Canada in March. The policies seem to have led to increasing anti-Trump sentiment in Canada, with many residents booing the US national anthem at hockey games and making comparisons between the president and Poilievre.
This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.
Politics
Small boat crossings pass 10,000 at earliest point in year since records began, Sky News understands
Small boat crossings have passed 10,000 in 2025 at the earliest point in a year since records began, Sky News understands.
Analysis of previous Home Office numbers and footage of people arriving today show the number of people crossing the Channel continuing to rise.
The issue has become a lodestone for political parties across the spectrum, with Rishi Sunak’s pledge to “Stop The Boats” falling well short.
Politics latest: PM warns of Tory-Reform pact ‘disaster’
Sir Keir Starmer promised to clear the backlog of asylum applications and “Smash The Gangs” of people smugglers upstream, but critics say he has failed to do this almost a year into his stint in Number Ten.
Reform’s Nigel Farage has made the issue key to his party’s pitch to voters.
The 10,000 figure is understood to have been passed on 28 April. Official figures only go until 27 April at the time of writing, with 9,885 people detected crossing the Channel by the UK government at this point
This compares to 7,167 by the same date in 2024, 5,745 in 2023, 5,352 in 2022, and 1,796 in 2021. Data only started to get collected in 2018, and for the first three years fewer than 1,000 people were observed crossing the Channel before 28 April.
Fine weather conditions are known to lead to an increase in people crossing the Channel, with some efforts earlier this year stymied by heavy winds.
Sir Keir scrapped the Conservative’s Rwanda deportation plan when entering office. In March, the prime minister said his government had “returned” 24,000 people who had no right to be in the UK.
Read more:
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Gusty conditions halt small boat crossings
Starmer: 24,000 people returned
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said: “Britain’s borders are being torn apart under Labour. This year is already the worst on record for small boat crossings after over 10,000 illegal immigrants arrived in Britain, but Labour just sit on their hands.
“Labour scrapped our deterrent before it even started, flung open the door to extremists and criminals, and handed the bill to hardworking taxpayers.
“Under new Conservative leadership, we are serious about tackling this crisis with deliverable reforms, but Labour continue to block these at every turn. Labour’s open-door chaos is a betrayal of the British people, and we will not let them get away with it.”
Mr Philp was part of previous Conservative governments, which also failed to reduce crossings.
Speaking to broadcasters, Mr Farage said: “If this carries on at this rate, by the end of this Labour government another quarter of a million people will have come into this country, many of whom frankly don’t fit our culture or cost us a fortune.”
He claimed that Reform is “the only party” saying that “unless you deport those that come illegally, they will just continue to come”.
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A Home Office spokesperson said: “We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.
“The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay and we will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.
“That is why this government has put together a serious plan to take down these networks at every stage.
“Through international intelligence sharing under our Border Security Command, enhanced enforcement operations in Northern France and tougher legislation in the Border Security and Asylum Bill, we are strengthening international partnerships and boosting our ability to identify, disrupt, and dismantle criminal gangs whilst strengthening the security of our borders.”
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