The House of Commons erupted into a furore on Wednesday evening, as MPs pleaded with Prime Minister Boris Johnson to curb his “dangerous” rhetoric and stop using words like “surrender” and “betrayal”, which they said has contributed to abuse and even death threats being directed at them.
One of the most acrimonious moments came when Johnson dismissed concerns from the friends of murdered MP Jo Cox as “humbug”, which elicited gasps and cries of “shame”.
But do people away from parliament agree that Johnson’s rhetoric is “inflammatory” and “dangerous”?
HuffPost UK visited the seaside town of Southport in Merseyside on Thursday to hear what people make of the row in Westminster.
“It reminds me of the kind of language Donald Trump uses – words which lend themselves to making the country more divisive,” said mum-of-two Vicky Connelly.
She believes the prime minister was being deliberately provocative and inflammatory on Wednesday, as he wanted to push Labour MPs to table a vote of no-confidence.
“It feels like Boris Johnson is just motivated by his own career, and he does not represent the country or the people,” she said.
“People outside of London massively care about what is happening to our country. But it feels like no matter what we do, the general public are not being listened to.
“As a nation, we all care, but it feels like everything is out of control.”
Daniel Tuakoi, 63, is a pastor of a church in Southport and describes Johnson as “a bit of a donkey” for fuelling controversy with the things he says.
“Personally, I think people should be allowed free speech as long as it is not directly racist,” he said. “But I think Boris Johnson is making it easy for the opposition to try to create something out of the words he is using. They should be using political and diplomatic language.”
Tuakoi added that the problem isn’t just Johnson – opposition MPs are also acting like children in the playground, he said.
“Both sides act as if they are still in the public schools that they were all privileged to go to.
“It seems to me that all these people in government are playing a game, and the consequences will not affect them, but will impact people on the ground.”
Nicole Parker, a mum-of-two and a teaching assistant at a school, said that Johnson’s rhetoric is unacceptable.
“I don’t want my children to think it is OK to use such language,” she said. “Everybody is entitled to their own opinion, but I think the language Boris Johnson uses needs to be toned down if he wants to set an example to the younger generation.
“He needs to be respectful, and retaliating by using words such as ‘humbug’ is not the way to do things.”
However, Steven Alty, a support worker and a steward at Anfield, said he doesn’t think there is anything wrong with using words such as “betrayal” to describe legislation to prevent a no-deal Brexit.
“I think nowadays, people are offended far too easily,” he told HuffPost UK. “I think using words like ‘betrayal’ about Brexit are correct, because it was put to the vote – so what the majority of people voted for needs to happen.
“Boris Johnson is a politician, and I do not trust him,” Alty said. “But he is trying to get through what people voted for.”
Friends Kate Lunn and Claire Doyle are stay-at-home mums who feel the situation in parliament is an embarrassment and that “the rest of the world must be laughing at us.”
“I do feel it was a bit shallow of Boris Johnson to use Jo Cox as part of his argument,” Lunn said. “It brought it all up again for her family and was unnecessary.”
Despite that, however, she said she likes Johnson and wants to see Brexit go through.
Doyle said that she believed people “over-reacted” to what Johnson said on Wednesday. “I think that everyone is too scared to say how they feel, as everything is so political,” she said. “People are frightened to say what they actually feel as they are worried about the backlash.
“I know Boris Johnson does say a lot of bad things that people do not agree with – but he is only saying what a lot of the general public wants to say.”
However Sergio Nurmahomed, a cleaner, is not a fan of Johnson and says “he is not fit to be prime minister.”
“Everything that has happened in the short time since he became prime minister shows what a mistake it was,” he said.
“I think Boris Johnson’s language is very inappropriate, and I think he is fuelling hatred and division in the country.
Retired caterer Laurel Devey, 67, said that she believes Johnson is “riding the wave” of division in the country “to help him get to his own ends”. She said it was ridiculous for Johnson to use Jo Cox’s name as an argument to help push through Brexit, for example.
At the end of the day, however, she cared less about the rhetoric itself and more about the substance behind the words.
“I think what matters about Boris Johnson is what he does, rather than what he says,” she said. “Actions rather than words.”