MPs' drinking is out of control: Backbencher calls for stop to 'excessive' consumption at Westminster
A backbench politician has raised concerns over an 'excessive' drinking culture at Westminster that could leave MPs struggling to perform their duties.
Sarah Wollaston, Conservative MP for Totnes spoke out about the issue at a fringe meeting during the Tory party conference in Manchester last week.
My my. So it's a case of do as I say, not as I do for those who would try to dictate our lifestyle choices. We've seen this before though haven't we, when Tony Blairs government banned smoking in bars, they made sure that the bar in the House of Commons was not covered by the legislation.
So why the excessive boozing among MPs? Is it because they are unable to resist low supermarket prices, like they imagine we are?
She blamed heavy drinking among her colleagues on free alcohol being too readily available at social events.
Typical. They don't even have to pay for it.
'The problem we have is the number of receptions throughout the day where alcohol is free.
'I don't think my colleagues are drunks. I am saying there is a drinking culture that has surprised me.
And these are the people who believe they have a right to regulate our behaviour in relation to alcohol. They want to increase the price of booze by adding tax to create a minimum price per unit, hitting the poor squarely in the pocket but obviously having no affect on their own drinking habits, because even though they can afford pricey booze on their wages, they are not even being asked to pay for it.
They want us to cut our consumption to levels below even one glass of wine per day, yet they are imbibing their free booze on a daily basis when they are supposed to be working, doing the jobs that we are forced to pay them to do.
She said parliament should 'debate' what level of drinking was acceptable for MPs while they were at work.
None. Absolutely zero. They are working, not out on the piss at our expense.
She insists that she is not pushing for 'a total abstinence policy in parliament', but says the government should be setting an example in its own behaviour as it prepares its alcohol strategy.
Setting a real example would be following their strategy to the letter. Paying extra for booze and keeping their consumption down to near abstinence levels. Unless of course they would like to butt out of our lives.
'If we are voting are we working? Is it important to be sober while we are legislating?
Yes you are working, however this goes a long way towards explaining all the junk laws that have come out of Parliament in the last fourteen years. You were all out of your trees.
Dr Wollaston is not the first person to have raised concerns over the amount of alcohol consumed in parliament.
Commons doctor, Ira Madan raised concerns that the availability of alcohol was creating a culture of alcohol misuse.
However, her recommendations made three years ago fell on deaf ears and the doors of the drinks cabinets at Westminster have remained irresistibly open.
As has the smoking room. These petty dictators who would seek to control every aspect of our lifestyle while doing as they please themselves, have become the enemy of the people.
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