National Party leader Simon Bridges has accused Parliament's Speaker of "running interference" for Labour.
It's against the rules to criticise the Speaker - presently Labour's Trevor Mallard - but Bridges pushed the boundaries on Monday's bulletin of The AM Show.
"I think he's getting in the way because he runs interference," Bridges told host Duncan Garner.
It comes almost a week after Bridges was booted out of the House for making a "barnyard noise", which Bridges denies happened.
A day later, National MP Nick Smith was ejected after yelling at Mallard, accusing him of being "soft on drugs".
Bridges said Dr Smith was just "a passionate guy doing his job".
The Speaker's got to stop running interference. But I don't want to get into a battle with that guy."
Garner asked Bridges if he was implying Mallard was acting biased.
"I'm not going to use that word. I couldn't possibly comment," said Bridges. "I try really hard to follow the rules every day. I just think when we're trying to do our job, he should let us do that."
Former MP Peter Dunne criticised Mallard's actions last week, who said Dr Smith's punishment of being 'named' by the House was "completely over the top and out of all proportion to reality".
From the safety of retirement, he accused Mallard - 26 years the Prime Minister's senior - of taking a "paternalistic approach" and acting as Jacinda Ardern's "protector".
It's been reported Dr Smith was also the last person to be 'named' in Parliament, way back in 2006.
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