MP Skinner in Commons 'bias' row

Mr Skinner's nickname is the "Beast of Bolsover"

The Labour MP Dennis Skinner has walked out of the House of Commons after accusing the deputy speaker of bias.

The Bolsover MP left the chamber as Deputy Speaker Sir Alan Haselhurst prepared to order him to leave.

The row came after the shadow Commons leader Theresa May accused Tony Blair of misleading MPs on waiting lists.

When Sir Alan did not pull her up for using unparliamentary language Mr Skinner shouted out "she's being let off because she's a Tory".

Sir Alan called that a "grossly offensive remark" and asked him to withdraw it.

Mr Skinner responded that "there's one rule for Labour and not for Tories". He then left the chamber as Sir Alan told him he was going to "name" or exclude him.

Break with tradition?

A parliamentary official later said Mr Skinner had been "asked to withdraw for the rest of the day".

Speaking outside the Commons later, Mr Skinner said: "I have been in the House, like a lot of people, for a long time.

"When anybody uses the word mislead against an MP of whatever kind or party, the speaker or deputy speaker will call upon that member to withdraw.

"I have been around and heard it many, many times. On this occasion, Theresa May, a Tory, used the word mislead.

"The deputy speaker, who is also a Tory, refused to call her to withdraw."

Pretty desperate?

Mr Skinner is nicknamed "the Beast of Bolsover" for his acerbic attacks on the Conservatives from his regular front row seat in the Commons.

He has been upbraided before and has been asked to leave the chamber 10 times since 1979, including a five-day ban in 1981.

In 1992, he was thrown out for calling then Agriculture Minister John Gummer a "little squirt of a minister" and a "wart".

And he was banned for the rest of the day in 1995 when he accused ministers of a "crooked deal" to sell off the coal industry.

Most recently he was thrown out for a day after he made comments about shadow chancellor George Osborne which he refused to withdraw when requested to do so by the speaker.