'Whitewash' protesters disrupt the Commons

Anti-war activists shouting "whitewash" and "no more illegal war" heckled the Prime Minister as he opened the Commons debate on the Hutton inquiry yesterday, forcing the suspension of parliamentary proceedings for the first time since 1988.

Anti-war activists shouting "whitewash" and "no more illegal war" heckled the Prime Minister as he opened the Commons debate on the Hutton inquiry yesterday, forcing the suspension of parliamentary proceedings for the first time since 1988.

Seven demonstrators from "Oxford Citizens for the Truth" were dragged from the public gallery by security staff after the they stood up and shouted one by one. To the amusement of MPs, the Prime Minister declared: "I somehow feel I am not being entirely persuasive."

Four men and three women were locked up in the rarely used Commons cells but later released without charge. Perhaps the most spectacular demonstration occurred in the House of Lords in 1988 when a group of lesbians abseiled into the chamber from the public gallery.