Jimmy Hood launched a fierce attack on those in power in government who abuse others.

Mr Hood (Clydesdale) was making a plea to the government to legislate against bullying in the workplace.

He was opening an adjournment debate before the summer recess during which MPs were given free reign to raise any issue they wanted.

The right to work with dignity is a basic human right, said Mr Hood.

Patronage in Parliament

He condemned "crude thuggery" and psychological abuse in schools and the workplace.

But, Mr Hood went on, there is another type of bullying - "career assassination".

He shocked members by saying that abuse also goes on in Parliament.

He said: "Any employer and yes, on occasions, some politicians may indulge in this kind of abuse. Some call it 'control freaks'. Control freaks use many tools - there's the tool of patronage, which is a posh word for rewarding obedience.

"Abuse exists, dare I say, in this place where careers are controlled by the carrot and stick of political patronage.

"Career assassination is not viewed in this place as a dastardly act but more an occupational hazard."

It took the forms of a place in the government, a promise of a quango or trip to an exotic place - or even a knighthood or peerage, said Mr Hood.

'Scrap the whips'

And he called for the abolition of the whipping system in the Commons.

"If we are to extend the democratic process to our citizens we have to open up government to them," he said.

Transparency, scrutiny and openness should be the House's watchwords and the system, at best, should be reformed, he said.

But there was also a democratic argument for abolishing it, he said.