Mr Miliband told MP’s he had never heard David Cameron use the sort of language the Prime Miniser did in the chamber last night. He said talking about “surrender” implied Britain was war with Europe. He said Mr Johnson’s language was a “disgrace” and called on him to apologise.
Mr Miliband said: “All of us need to take care of our language and none of us is at fault.
But the Prime Minister of our country holds a special responsibility, and I say to members across the House, I spent four and a half years opposite David Cameron and I never saw a performance like the performance we saw last night from this Prime Minister.
“Everyone in this House shares the frustration of the last three and a half years, in fact some of us didn’t want the referendum to happen in the first place, but none of us can agree that the safety of members in this House should depend on the way they voted in this House.
“It is a disgrace that the Prime Minister said this yesterday, he should apologise and the minister should apologise on his behalf.
“This and the language of surrender suggests we are at war, either with Europe or with each other.
“Let me say as someone who grew up with parents who were born in the shadow of war, we are not at war with Europe and we are not at war with each other.
“The Prime Minister has a special responsibility, he is not exercising this responsibility, he is trying to divide an already divided country.
“Some people say this strategy will work, this strategy will not work as the British people are better than this.”
