Left-winger George Galloway will attempt to frustrate plans to cancel Wednesday’s Prime Minister’s Questions so that MPs can attend the funeral of Baroness Thatcher.
The Dundee-born Respect MP has said he will try to block a Government motion dropping Commons questions and delaying the start of business to 2.30pm, after the funeral.
Ministers had hoped the motion, tabled by Leader of the House Andrew Lansley, would go through “on the nod” at the end of Commons business.
However, Mr Galloway has said he will take advantage of Commons rules which mean that if one MP shouts “object” the motion will either have to be withdrawn, allowing PMQs to go ahead as normal, or the Government will have to set aside parliamentary time tomorrow so it can be debated and voted on.
“It really is imperative that the Prime Minister is questioned, among other things, about his decision to impose a quite unnecessary and expensive early return of Parliament which was simply a hideous outpouring of right-wing eulogies and rants doused in crocodile tears,” he wrote on his website.
“I’m glad to see that, like me, more than 100 Labour MPs stayed away from the circus.”
With Labour having said it will not object to the timetable motion, it is still almost certain to go through if it goes to a vote.
Nevertheless, Mr Galloway’s intervention will once again highlight the strong feelings Lady Thatcher still inspires among both supporters and opponents.
Earlier the right-of-centre Conservative Way Forward Group founded by supporters of Lady Thatcher in 1991 after she was forced from office unveiled plans to enshrine her political legacy through the establishment of a Margaret Thatcher Library at Westminster.
The £15 million institution, inspired by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum located in California, will serve as a library, museum and training centre to promote her political philosophy and help shape future Conservative Party policy.
It has the backing of three Cabinet ministers Communities Secretary Eric Pickles, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin and Welsh Secretary David Jones as well as the former defence secretary Liam Fox.
Lord Tebbit and Lord Parkinson, two of Lady Thatcher’s key Cabinet allies from the 1980s, are also behind the plan.
Tory backbencher Conor Burns, a friend of Lady Thatcher and closely associated with project, said her death had had a galvanising effect on the party.