Racism is rife in the House of Commons, according to a Christian MP who has described one of many incidents where she says she was a victim.

Dawn Butler, the Labour MP for Brent Central, described how a colleague mistook her for a cleaner.

"Yes - God, there are so many incidents," the black Labour MP for Brent Central told BBC 5 Live's Pienaar's Politics.

"There was a time when I was in the lift. It was a members' lift that Members of Parliament use specially in cases when we have to get to places quickly.

"I was in the lift and some other MP said, 'This lift really isn't for cleaners'."

However Butler refused to name the colleague, just saying it was another member.

The 46-year-old MP was re-elected in May 2015 after losing her seat in 2010. She was initially elected in 2005 for Brent South.

This is not the first time Butler has made accusations of racism in the House of Commons. In an article for the Fawcett Society in 2008, Butler accused then Conservative minister, David Heathcoat-Amory, of racism after he questioned her presence on the members-only area of the Commons' riverside terrace.

"He actually said to me: 'What are you doing here? This is for members only," she wrote.

"He then proceeded to ask me: 'Are you a member?' And I said: 'Yes I am, are you?' And he turned around and said to his colleague: 'They're letting anybody in nowadays.'

"This man could not equate the image he saw in front of him with that of an MP. It was quite upsetting for my team and so we had to take it further."

Heathcoat-Amory denied his remarks were racist.

"It is quite absurd," he said in response. "What she is actually objecting to is that I didn't recognise her as a new MP. I simply asked her what she was doing at that end of the terrace, and they are quite sensitive about this kind of thing, they think that any kind of reprimand from anyone is racially motivated."