The Green Party MP Hannah Spencer has become the latest Westminster newcomer to ask a fairly reasonable question: why are so many people being destroyed here?
In an interview with Politics Joe that was widely shared over the weekend, Spencer said she was ‘really concerned’ about the amount of drinking she had seen from some of her colleagues on the estate.
“I can’t imagine if a cleaner did that,” she said. Or someone at a bank had some drinks and then went back to work, smelling of alcohol.’
Particularly disturbing, in her mind, was the drinking that some MPs engaged in. ahead returning to the chamber to vote on some major issues facing the country.
And she has a point. Famously, there are numerous pubs in the Palace of Westminster where drinks are subsidized – and they are very conveniently located.
While the nights continue to bring out and WEATHER it gets warmer PARLIAMENTThe riverside terrace becomes more crowded with legislators and their staff eager to enjoy a glass of wine or a cold beer in a spectacular setting.
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Then, on one of the frequent days when work runs late into the evening, you can see them dump the scum and come back inside when the division bell rings.
Spencer rightly points out that this is not a normal state of affairs in other workplaces across the country. So how is this considered acceptable?
How did Parliament end up with pubs?
The first point to note is that the Palace of Westminster is a unique workplace. It’s big, it’s busy, and it’s very old.
Booze has been served in the Parliamentary estate since at least 1773, when a man named John Bellamy – deputy master of the house of the House of Commons – set up a refreshment stand and called it Bellamy’s.
As the building was transformed over the following centuries, especially after it was destroyed in the fire of 1834, a number of new options opened up.
Today, the most famous pub on the estate is the Strangers’ Bar, which has outdoor tables on the terrace overlooking the Thames. It is open to MPs, staff, guests and journalists.
Hidden within the building is the Woolpack, known until 2018 as the Sports and Social Club Bar, which has closer links to the House of Lords.
Elsewhere in the Palace there are more exclusive places such as the Pugin Room, named after the architect who designed the iconic new building after the fire.
Why do people want to delete or keep them?
When I asked MPs what they thought about drinks in Parliament and Spencer’s comments, I got a range of responses.
A veteran Tory said to me with a sense of misplaced pride: “If she thinks she has too much to drink now, she should have seen what it was like 20 years ago!”
Reform leader Nigel Farage called Spencer a ‘puritan’ who would ‘stop anything’.
But I was also told that MPs find the Foreigners’ Bar an ideal setting to have ‘valuable political conversations’ or ‘just unwind after a busy day’.
This may be the strongest argument for the existence of the drink. The word ‘Parliament’ comes from the Old French ‘to speak’ – and where better to settle issues and settle differences than over a pint in the pub?
Still, Spencer is far from the first person to wonder if things have gone a little too far.
In an appearance in podcast Some laugh last year former SNP MP Mhairi Black cited the drinking culture as one of her biggest problems with Westminster, saying: “Everything pretty much encourages it.”
And it may not be a coincidence that two of the main critics are young women.
Last year, Strangers’ Bar was closed for a month after a parliamentary researcher said her drink was spiked.
It was just the latest in a long list of allegations of criminal or criminal behavior at the bar, including fondling and sexual misconduct.
it Was reported in November 2024 that some MPs were encouraging Parliament’s modernization committee to curb drinking during working hours.
However, the long history of UK MPs being tired on the job is far from over.
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