Under tough questioning from Eastern Counties MEP David Campbell Bannerman during an International Trade Committee meeting on the 15th October 2015,  European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom denied that she had said “I do not take my mandate from the European people.” which was stated by the Independent on the 13th October 2015.   The EU Trade Commissioner described John Hilary – executive director of the UK charity War on Want  – as an activist who had fabricated the quote.   The chairman of the International Trade Committee (INTA) Bernd Lange MEP also intervened in a breach of parliamentary protocol and stated that the question was ‘not fair politics.’