Fisheries minister was too busy at nativity to read Brexit bill

Oh dear. There are some things in life it’s probably best not to admit. Government minister Victoria Prentis found that out the hard way yesterday, when she confessed to a Lords select committee that she hadn’t bothered to read the era-defining Brexit deal which was agreed with the European Union in December. Among other things, the deal concerned the rights of European fishermen to access the UK’s waters. So it was not exactly ideal that Prentis hadn’t found time to read the text, considering she is the, err, fisheries minister.

Asked by the committee if her jaw had dropped when the deal was released on Christmas Eve, Prentis explained that ‘No, the agreement came when we were all very busy on Christmas Eve, in my case organising the local nativity trail.’

Mr S is glad to hear that Prentis takes her festive responsibilities seriously. But one imagines that fishermen across the country will have been rather less pleased by the minister’s lack of interest in their fate…