Penny Mordaunt called out Labour for its past record of poor language after a frontbencher urged MPs to consider the words they use. Shadow Commons Leader Lucy Powell insisted it is “incumbent on all of us to be mindful about our own language and conduct”.
But the Commons Leader pointed to examples of previous language used by Labour MPs.
Speaking at Business Questions Ms Mordaunt said: “I have to say that I would ask her to consider on whose benches members sit who have suggested that we ‘lynch a Government minister’, or who have called Honourable Members ‘scum’, or who have said ‘I want there to be no situation where no Tory MP or coalition minister can travel anywhere in the country or show their face anywhere in public without being challenged’.
“Which party’s actions have made it likely that an antisemite will be sworn into this House next week?
“Which party last week trashed the understanding and foundation of trust upon which this place needs to operate?
“She (Ms Powell) rolls her eyes, I would ask her just to consider what she could to rectify that situation.”
Ms Mordaunt added: “What we are seeing despite best attempts to knock if off the media’s agenda or pretend it is otherwise, is that the strong moral compass we want to see from our nation’s political leaders especially at times like this, is missing from the party opposite, and that is sad and it is shameful.”
Ms Powell had urged Ms Mordaunt to agree that Lee Anderson had used racist and Islamophobic language with comments about London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
The Ashfield MP lost the Tory whip after refusing to apologise for claims “Islamists” had “got control” of the Labour politician.
Ms Powell said: “We have discussed these issues many times, but doesn’t she agree with me that it is incumbent upon all of us to be mindful about our own language and conduct?
“When we see racism, antisemitism, or Islamophobia in our own ranks we must take action, however difficult the consequences, and we must be clear in calling it out.
“So to that end, I hope she will take this opportunity to say what is very clear for all to see, that the comments of the Member for Ashfield about the Mayor of London were racist and Islamophobic.
“Does she also agree with me that we need to uphold the highest standards of conduct towards one another and that highly personalised and wrong-headed attacks by sections of the media or political parties towards individual Members only fuel hatred, disdain and those who pose security threats? We must strive to do better.”
But Ms Mordaunt said critics of Mr Anderson might have to accept an article he wrote in the Daily Express is “the closest we will get to a one word apology”.
She said: “She (Lucy Powell) mentions the issue of the Honourable Member for Ashfield. I know that she will want to hear one word from the Honourable Member for Ashfield, but yesterday he did provide us with 1,000.
“I read his piece in the Express and it is some distance from the view that he expressed in that interview, and I think that what he wrote in the Express is his genuine view.
“Those thousand words, we might have to accept, are the closest we will get to a one word apology that others seek.”
