Alex Salmond has been accused of playing with the hair of an SNP colleague in the Commons.

Speaker John Bercow believed the former first minister, now MP for Gordon, was seeking to raise an issue in the chamber via the point of order procedure.

Alex SalmondAlex Salmond

Mr Bercow told MPs: "The right honourable gentleman, the member for Gordon, is stirring in his seat.

"I'm not sure whether it's, no, he doesn't have a point of order."

To laughter, Mr Bercow added: "Well, it's one thing to play with one's own hair, it's another thing to play with somebody else's.

"We'll leave it there for now. I wondered if there was a point of order brewing from the right honourable gentleman, but not on this occasion. Another time."

Chuckling to himself, Mr Bercow noted: "I'm sure he was being helpful."

SNP MP Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) was sitting to Mr Salmond's right and Marion Fellowes, SNP MP for Motherwell and Wishaw, to his left.

Ahead of her response to the Queen's Speech debate, shadow business secretary Angela Eagle said: "I'm just reeling from the prospect of public hair playing and whether we should in this House have a rule against it."

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