The tributes to Baroness Thatcher have gone on long enough, Respect MP George Galloway said tonight as he attempted to force Prime Minister David Cameron to return to Parliament immediately after her funeral.
Mr Galloway said there was no reason to cancel Prime Minister's Questions tomorrow so that Mr Cameron and other senior MPs did not have to rush back to Westminster following Lady Thatcher's funeral at St Paul's Cathedral.
The House of Commons had sat during the darkest days of the Second World War, the MP for Bradford West said, as he accused the Government of "tender sensibilities" in its attempts to cancel PMQs tomorrow lunchtime.
Mr Galloway said: "I am sorry but this is not a national funeral. You can only have a national funeral where there is a national consensus about the person being buried.
"That consensus does not exist in relation to Margaret Thatcher and no matter how oft people from the frontbenches fawn upon her, pour honeyed-words upon her, even outside of this House of course, tell lies about her and her record, that won't change.
"The British Establishment is making a profound misjudgment here. The opposition parties in particular misjudgment if they imagine that there are not tens of millions of people in the country who have votes who are very angry about a whole range of issues that have arisen.
"If I was to speak shortly, it would be that great New York phrase 'enough already'. We have had enough of this. It has gone on too long and it has gone too far. This put the tin hat on it - the idea that we should suspend a vital part of our democratic process for a party political and private funeral.
"Don't get me wrong, I will not be celebrating at the funeral tomorrow. I believe it is wrong to celebrate at someone's funeral. But I will not agree to suspend our democracy so that some of the friends of the deceased have to make a choice between attending Prime Minister's question time or going to the funeral.
"That is a choice they would have to make and of course it is very clear they could do both despite the tender sensibilities they may have - to come in to the bear pit on their return to the House. But that is what they are here for. That is what they were elected to be here for."
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