SPEAKER John Bercow was forced to apologise after causing uproar in the House of Commons with an "insult" to Tory MP Greg Hands.

Mr Bercow said he had "no problem" apologising after while asking that Mr Hands come to order during the ongoing Brexit debate, he said that the MP "was once a whip and wasn't a very good whip"

He added: "It would be better if he'd keep quiet".

That led to deafening shouts of "withdraw".

As he tried to wave protests away he said: "No, not outrageous at all. Not outrageous at all."

With a half smile, half grimace he appeared to stick to his guns: "Members can shout as much as they like, it won't make any difference.

"The right honourable gentleman is perfectly capable of looking after himself, if he wants to (inaudible) noisily from a sedentary position he has to expect there will be a response."

The Herald:

In a point of order, ir Sir Patrick McLoughlin, former Conservative Party chairman, and MP for Derbyshire Dales questioned Mr Bercow's behaviour.

He said: "A few weeks ago you send out a message and a letter to all Members of Parliament, asking them to treat each other with respect."

And to cheers, the MP added:"Do you think your comments to the member for Chelsea reflected that?"

The Herald:

The Speaker said: "If I have caused offence, I will very happily apologise, very happy to do so. I have no difficulty with that. I have no difficulty in apologising to the right honourable gentleman.

"I didn't think he was a person of tender sensibilities, but if I have caused offence, I am very... happy to apologise to the right honourable gentleman.

"He is normally a most genial character, most of our exchanges are in that vein and I am very happy to tender that apology."

The Herald:

Sir Hugo Swire, the Conservative MP for East Devon would not let it lie, though.

"Mr Speaker, it may not cause you any great trouble, but it causes us a certain degree of trouble.

"You sir have just congratulated the right honourable member for West Dorset as treating everybody with courtesy and you sir, are the invigilator of this place. And if you insult others members of parliament, we have no comeback, is that not..."

Mr Bercow then intervened, telling him to "resume your seat" repeatedly.

He added: "The right honourable gentleman from a sedentary position was disorderly, the point was raised by the right honourable gentleman for Derbyshire Dales, I have given an apology, I said sorry to the right honourable gentleman, nothing further requires to be added.

The Herald:

"I think the honourable gentleman for underlining his concern, but I said sorry to the right honourable gentleman and it doesn't need to be said again."

It is not the first time the Speaker has come in for heat over his quips.

Tension between the Mr Bercow and government ministers flared into the open in May in an unprecedented series of exchanges in the chamber of the House of Commons.

Hewas heard by some MPs calling Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the House, a “stupid woman”.

The aside apparently came after prime minister’s questions when Labour’s chief whip, Nick Brown, was complaining that the government was repeatedly breaching convention that time reserved for opposition debates should not be taken up with statements on government business.

Later in a statement to MPs he said that while he had been annoyed by the government’s decision to schedule a statement on the East Coast rail franchise on an opposition day, he had not insulted Leadsom.

“I thought then, as I think now, that this was very badly handled,” Bercow told MPs. “It was in particular disrespectful both to the house and to the 23 backbenchers who were hoping to participate in the opposition day debate on the Grenfell Tower disaster.

“It was in that context, and that context alone, that, having expressed my displeasure about the matter quite forcefully from the chair, I used the word ‘stupid’ in a muttered aside. That adjective simply summed up how I felt about the way that that day’s business had been conducted.”