LONDON, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- Liberal Democratic members of Parliament stormed out of the British House of Commons to protest a ruling blocking calls for an European Union referendum.
Party leader Nick Clegg and his followers walked out Tuesday night, declaring the ouster of party spokesman Ed Davey "an outrage," The Telegraph reported. A few minutes earlier, the party's foreign affairs spokesman had been thrown out of the chamber for questioning House Speaker Michael Martin's ruling.
Clegg supports a referendum on whether Britain should remain in the European Union. The Conservative Party is pushing for a vote on the Lisbon Treaty, and about one-quarter of the Liberal Democrat members of the British Parliament are believed to support that position.
William Hague, the Conservative foreign affairs spokesman, accused Clegg of trying to cover up the fact that his party reneged on an earlier pledge for a referendum on an EU treaty.
"This ridiculous tantrum by the Liberal Democrats shows they know that they've been rumbled," Hague said.
