Fighting breaks out in the House of Commons in 1893. The newly-elected Labour MP, Keir Hardie, describes the scene for the papers.
"As for Mr Gladstone, he was pallid to the lips. To him it must have been as the desecration of the Ark of the Covenant to Moses of old."
Conservative MP Ernest Beckett: "‘I seized one of them [the Irish Members], at which three others threw themselves upon me and by sheer weight of numbers bore me to the floor … A general mêlée began, members striking out wildly at each other". Hardie takes up the tale...
The Unionist Edward Carson thought a Radical had started it, and blamed Gladstone. Conservatives accused the PM of failing to step in and stop the fighting. (Spoiler: he was 83 years old).
Lord Frederick Hamilton - a Conservative who claimed to have introduced skiing to Canada - drew some typically partisan lessons for the Home Rule Bill that MPs were meant to be discussing.
Gladstone could not bring himself to describe the scene in his diary. He alludes merely to "last night's catastrophe" and "the sad scene never to be forgotten". And that concludes this episode of #MPsbehavingbadly.
Might interest/appal @TheVictCommons
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