This summer, MPs have had to grapple with one of the big issues of our time. No, not Brexit – the planned closure of Big Ben. With the Great Bell to be silenced for four years while renovation work takes place, some politicians have expressed upset at the plans.
Jacob Rees-Mogg argues that it would be 'symbolically uplifting' for Big Ben's chimes to bong Britain out of the European Union. Meanwhile, one MP suffering from a particularly bad case of Big Ben blues has called for like-minded traditionalists to gather outside Parliament tomorrow at midday to witness his final bongs.
Alas not everyone is entertained. Today Chris Bryant went on the offensive. On hearing the news that an MP was calling for politicians to gather tomorrow to mark Ben's last bongs, the Labour MP saw red and resorted to some point-scoring. He took to social media to say that Tory MPs were turning into a 'parody of themselves':
Only there's a problem: not one Conservative politician has suggested this. The MP calling for politicians to gather tomorrow is not a Tory, they're a member of... Labour. Step forward Stephen Pound, the MP for Ealing North.
Bryant has since attempted some damage limitation – explaining that while a Labour MP may have said it, they must have said it in jest. However, asked by Press Association whether he was joking, Pound replied: 'No, of course I'm not'.
Whether or not Pound was joking, Mr S suggests Bryant makes it up to the Tory politicians he falsely accused by showing some solidarity tomorrow lunchtime.