Architects have been accused of punching below their weight politically by the co-chairman of Parliament’s all-party design forum.

The attack by Barry Sheerman, Labour MP for Huddersfield, comes days after David Chipperfield criticised architects for not making more noise about the threat posed to the profession by Brexit (see box below for RIBA’s invitation to Chipperfield).

Sheerman turned on architects in the middle of an otherwise avuncular meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Design and Innovation Group in the Palace of Westminster this week.

He said: “Architects are very smart and full of high principles but why are you so weak in your clout? Why aren’t you stronger? Why do you punch below your weight?”