Liberal Democrat MP Caroline Voaden has accused Nigel Farage of grabbing her by the arm, pushing her to one side and barging past her in the House of Commons, branding the Reform UK leader a "bully".
The alleged incident took place at the King's Speech procession earlier this year, according to Ms Voaden, who spoke to Times Radio after Mr Farage made the dispute public at a press conference on Wednesday.
Details of the alleged incident
Ms Voaden said Mr Farage was upset after getting stuck behind MPs when he should have been at the front because he was a party leader. She said: "He got stuck behind a load of MPs and was clearly quite annoyed that he was not at the front of the procession.
"And he tried to push past us, and I told him to wait his turn like everybody else, because actually there was nowhere he could have gone, because there were so many people in front of us.
"And he didn't like that. He grabbed me by the arm, pushed me hard to one side, and barged past."
Ms Voaden said one of her colleagues thought she was going to fall down the stairs. She also noted that no one from Reform had attended the rehearsal, so they did not know what he was supposed to be doing.
Public statements and reactions
Mr Farage told journalists on Wednesday that he had been involved in a "physical altercation" with an MP in the chamber, which he cited as one reason for skipping the Budget. He also mentioned that his parliamentary prayer card had been removed.
Lib Dem frontbencher Max Wilkinson posted on X that he witnessed the incident and that it happened before footage showing Ms Voaden and Mr Farage walking down steps in the Commons. In a further post, he wrote: "This is only now being discussed in public because Farage got caught out not attending the budget. He and Jenrick blamed this incident, in which Farage has upset a female MP by using physical force. We Lib Dems didn't proactively raise this matter."
Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper told Sky News on Friday: "My understanding - I didn't see it, I wasn't there - but my understanding is that he physically shoved one of our female MPs out of the way, and that one of our male MPs then challenged him on that."
Reform UK's response
Reform officials denied the allegations and insisted it was the Lib Dem MP who was acting aggressively. Mr Jenrick said: "You know what? I am sick to death of these pathetic Westminster debates.
"The thing about Reform politicians is, yeah, we love Parliament, the institution of Parliament. I go there every day. I speak in Parliament. I represent my constituents.
"But I'm much more interested about, actually, the issues, trying to change this country, getting out and about outside of the bubble. I'm not interested in even responding, dignifying the nonsense that Daisy Cooper is talking about there."
A House of Commons spokesperson later said Mr Farage's prayer card was removed because it did not have a valid time stamp, a claim ridiculed by opposition MPs.
