Jeremy Corbyn has denied calling Theresa May a “stupid woman” during prime minister’s questions.
The Labour leader said he had actually been criticising “stupid people” on the Tory benches who were “seeking to turn a debate about the national crisis facing our country into a pantomime”.
Speaking in the Commons this afternoon, Corbyn said: “I did not use the words ‘stupid woman’ about the prime minister or anyone else, and am completely opposed to the use of sexist or misogynist language in absolutely any form at all.”
Tory MPs reacted with fury after video footage from PMQs earlier in the day appeared to show Corbyn mouthing the remark.
Speaking on a subsequent visit to Heathrow Airport today, May said that with 2018 marking the centenary of women getting the vote “I want to see more women encouraged to come into Parliament and not put off by the sort of remarks that they might feel have been said in Parliament”.
The almost immediate circulation of footage of Corbyn prompted uproar in the Commons, with shouting and heckling as a succession of MPs demanded action from Speaker John Bercow.
Bercow said having watched the footage it was “easy to see” why people believed Corbyn has said “woman” not “people”.
The Speaker then also was forced to deny calling an MP a “stupid woman” himself.
Conservative Vicky Ford said she had heard that phrase used in the Commons chamber about her,
“I’ve heard it from yourself in the Speaker’s chair, so Mr Speaker please can we have an apology and draw a line against this and move on,” she said.
Bercow said he refuted the allegation “100%” and criticised Ford for not having raised the complaint before.
“I say with absolute certainty, it is not correct, I have not said that to or about her,” he said.
The Speaker was also accused earlier this year of calling Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom a “stupid woman”.