KINGSTON, Jamaica — “Madam Speaker there’s a stranger in our midst, on this side of the House,” was all the words that Leader of Opposition Business in the House of Representatives, Anthony Hylton was allowed to say at the start of Tuesday’s House sitting before he was cut off by his counterpart, Edmund Bartlett, the Leader of Government Business.

Hylton was referencing the fact that disgraced Member of Parliament for Central Westmoreland, George Wright, who was elected on a Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) ticket, is now sitting on the Opposition benches.

On Tuesday, a sheepish looking Wright, whose mask loomed large on his face in observance of COVID-19 protocols, sat in the back row on the Opposition side behind the Opposition Spokesman on Transport, Mikael Phillips.

Hylton started to speak just as Prime Minister Andrew Holness was invited to make a ministerial statement to the House but was immediately cut off by Bartlett who rose on a point of order. Bartlett went on to give a lengthy speech during which he accused Opposition MPs of creating “histrionics”.

Bartlett argued that it was not in the Westminster tradition for a member to cause an interruption after a motion in relation to any matter on the order paper is taken, particularly when it is the prime minister who was about to speak.

Continuing, Bartlett argued that there was no stranger in the House as stated by Hylton. According to Bartlett, to indicate that a stranger was in the House suggests that “there is an issue in relation to tolerance and just how much (more) this House can tolerate histrionics”. He accused the Opposition of making attempts at all times to create media sensation which has no bearing.

As Bartlett spoke, Hylton made several attempts to get a word in, repeatedly asking “What’s the point of order?”

When she spoke, House Speaker Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert stated that if there was a stranger in the House he would duly be removed by the marshal. She said all members were duly elected Members of Parliament. She also repeated what she said a week earlier that in the Westminster tradition, all members who are not a part of the ruling party sit on the Opposition benches.

She subsequently blocked attempts by South West St Andrew MP, Dr Angela Brown-Burke to speak and instructed Hansard writers not to record her. Brown-Burke said she was not surprised by the Speaker’s behavior. Dalrymple-Philibert also blocked attempts by Hylton to continue to make his point, also instructing the Hansard writers not to record anything that was said by the Opposition after she had ruled that the prime minister should proceed to make his statement.

Wright won the Central Westmoreland seat on a JLP ticket in the September 3, 2020 general election but was booted from the governing party’s parliamentary caucus in April. This was shortly after a viral video emerged showing a man, believed to be Wright viciously beating a woman with both his fists and a stool. The woman, who had to seek medical attention, was later identified as Wright’s common-law wife, Tannisha Singh.

Neither Singh nor Wright has given a formal statement to the police, forcing them to drop their probe into the matter and Wright has neither denied nor admitted that he is the man in the low quality video. Nonetheless, there have been numerous calls from civil society groups and the parliamentary Opposition for him to also resign as a Member of Parliament. He had taken a two-month’s leave of absence from the House but cut that short and returned on June 8, stirring unease among Opposition MPs.