Attorney General apologises after Commons 'joke' about domestic violence

Matt Honeycombe-Foster

matt_hfoster

Geoffrey Cox said he was sorry if he had "given offence" after making the remark during a heated debate on advice he gave to the Government over suspending Parliament.

The Cabinet minister had objected to being asked when he became aware his advice to the Prime Minister was "not true" - drawing parallels with being asked: "When did you stop beating your wife?"

Labour MP Clive Efford had asked him: "When was it that he first became aware that the advice that was given to Her Majesty the Queen, the Speaker of this House and this House itself about the reasons for prorogation, and that those reasons were not true?”

Mr Cox replied: "That is, if I may say so, what we used to call in advocacy terms a ‘when did you stop beating your wife?’ question - the reality is I don’t accept the premise of the question."

But the comment triggered an angry response from Labour MP Emma Hardy, who raised a point of order after the debate and accused Mr Cox of making a "joke" about domestic violence.

She said: "During that question-and-answer session, the Attorney General made a joke about the phrase ‘when did you last stop beating your wife’.

“Now part of the reason people are so upset about the prorogation is because the domestic violence Bill has fallen, as my honourable friend has just mentioned."

Ms Hardy added: "Mr Speaker, can I seek your advice on how maybe the Attorney General can learn to moderate his language and not make jokes about domestic violence?"

Responding to the point of order, Mr Cox said: "If I’ve given offence, I certainly didn’t mean to.

“It’s an old saying at the Bar…which simply relates to a cross-examination technique of asking a question that presumes the premise, and it’s the way in which we were taught."

He added: "If I have given offence, I apologise.”

Commons Speaker John Bercow said domestic violence was "a matter of extreme sensitivity" and urged all MPs to be "sensitive to the wider implications and interpretation of what we say".

"The mores of society do change and sometimes one can find that things that one has quite frequently said in the past without causing offence can no longer be said without causing offence," Mr Bercow added.

However, the Guido Fawkes website later uncovered a 2016 tweet from Ms Hardy in which she also used the phrase.

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