Labour and SNP in battle of the bottoms as Michelle Thomson and Pete Wishart claim seats on House of Commons opposition bench

The parliamentary turf war between Labour and the Scottish National Party (SNP) escalated yesterday, as MPs were sworn in.

 

Not content with wiping out Labour from seats in their Scottish heartland, Nicola Sturgeon’s MPs are now trying to force them out of their preferred perch in the House of Commons chamber, too,

 

The SNP’s Michelle Thomson and Pete Wishart sat beside acting Labour leader Harriet Harman on the official opposition benches.

 

It follows attempts from the SNP to also remove the Beast of Bolsover, veteran Labour MP Dennis Skinner, from his long-held spot on what is known in Westminster as the “rebels’ bench”.

 

The SNP ran a rota during which its MPs held on to the spot for part of Monday, prompting a furious response from Skinner.

 

MPs can claim a seat in the chamber by placing a prayer card with their name on it at eight o’clock in the morning. The seat is theirs for the day as long as they are in place for prayers.