The Brexit strife continues after a British MP was expelled from Parliament for walking off with the chamber’s ceremonial mace in protest of the impending vote.
The centuries-old gilded staff, which dates from the reign of Charles II in the seventeenth century, is a symbol of royal authority and without it, Parliament cannot meet or pass laws.
On Monday, Prime Minister Theresa May announced her government was postponing a crucial Brexit vote, which was supposed to happen this week. In protest, Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle walked towards the mace and held it up — which caused the room to erupt with anger.
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Conservative MPs shouted “disgrace” and “expel him” as he raised the five-foot mace to the crowd, according to the Guardian.
The MP then tried to walk away carrying the mace, but was stopped by a crowd of people. He then handed it back to a Parliamentary official and was suspended for the rest of the sitting.
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Russell-Moyle spoke to reporters after and said: “The symbolic gesture of lifting the mace and removing it is that the will of Parliament to govern is no longer there. … I felt Parliament had effectively given up its sovereign right to govern properly,” he said.
“They stopped me before I got out of the chamber and I wasn’t going to struggle with someone wearing a huge sword on their hip,” he said, according to the Guardian.
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