Of Lockwood, Trevor and the naughty step

Trevor Mallard fell foul of Parliament's Speaker Lockwood Smith yesterday. After a moving tribute to former Governor General Sir Paul Reeves, where a heartfelt speech from Green MP Kennedy Graham (who was married by Sir Paul) and a rousing korero from Maori Party MP Te Ururoa Flavell, the House came to Question Time, and the fun began.

It wasn't long before Trevor Mallard was required to withdraw and apologise after an unparliamentary interjection. But when National transferred Q2 from John Key to Paula Bennett (as is their right), it was all on. Labour took umbrage that the PM had momentarily vanished, and whilst points of order were being heard and ruled on, Mallard interjected that the PM was "chicken". He was immediately red-carded, and left the chamber without a further murmur. Phil Goff also left the House, and his question was asked by his deputy, Annette King. That in itself seemed odd; surely this was a chance for Goff to claim the moral high ground and the limelight.

Lockwood Smith's practice is that members sent from the House are out for the day, and that presented a problem for Labour as the House was about to move into urgency. That meant that Mallard could have been sidelined for the rest of the week; not a good look for the shadow Leader of the House. At the end of Question Time Labour's senior whip, Rick Barker made an eloquent plea for Mallard's ban to be finite. Barker noted that the Member for Hutt South was "contrite".

Now Trevor Mallard does not back away from a fight. Nor does he do contrition especially well. For at the very moment that Rick Barker was interceding on his behalf, Trevor Mallard was active on Twitter. He confirmed, on numerous occasions that he had called John Key a chicken, and that he thought that John Key was chicken. He also quizzed Tau Henare over what it was like to have a leader "covered in white feathers".

Now we have no idea how for Parliament's Standing Orders reach. But it seems odd that an MP ordered from the House in disgrace for an unparliamentary remark can then re-litigate the issue via social media. To us it shows contempt for the Speaker and for Parliament. And we wonder whether Rick Barker misled the House by telling Lockwood Smith that Mallard was "contrite" when it was patently obvious that the Hutt South MP was anything but.

Lockwood Smith did not rule on Barker's plea immediately. We don't know if Trevor Mallard was allowed back into the House last night, but we suspect that Mr Speaker would be highly grumpy about Mallard's behaviour subsequent to his expulsion. It will be interesting to see if Trevor Mallard is in the House this week.