Flood-Beaubrun, who served as House Speaker briefly under a former UWP administration in 2007, says Francis is abusing his authority as the presiding officer to bully the two Opposition MPs.

“In essence, he wants the cameras off so the public doesn’t see what he has to do. Any other reason he gives, I don’t believe, because he himself asked them to turn it off so he can do what he needs to do,” the Former Speaker said.

“It would seem that the reason why the Speaker [is] considering turning off the live broadcast is that he wants to do what he wants to do without being monitored or scrutinised,” she claimed.

“So why is it we can see the exchange, why is it we can see the member raising a point and the Speaker responding but we cannot see how the Speaker is going to handle it,” she continued.

The threat by the Speaker of the House was levied at the Opposition Leader who refused to take his seat and was seen to defy the orders of the Speaker. Some commentators described the LOOs behaviour as “recalcitrant” and “belligerent”.

SLP Communications Director, Lisa Jawahir, however, clarified that it is not Speaker Francis’ intention to stop the live broadcast of parliament’s sittings. Instead, she says, Francis was only reminding the Opposition Leader of the authority he wields.

“It is in the purview of the presiding officer to do so. But the Speaker, Hon. Claudius Francis will not do that, because the Speaker we know, it’s not in his nature. This was the same Speaker who, upon the first sitting of Parliament, ordered that the barricade be removed,” she explained.

Section 88 of the Standing Orders of the House of Assembly deals with the “General Authority of the Speaker”. The section reads in full, “The Speaker shall have power to regulate the conduct of business in all matters not provided for in these Standing Orders. The decision in all cases for which these Standing Orders do not provide shall lie within the discretion of the Speaker and shall not be open to challenge.”