The new MP is right that parliament’s drinking culture is fundamentally weird. But to change it, we need to reset the whole institution
Seven o’clock on a Monday night and I am standing in the House of Commons, nursing a glass of vinegary white wine.
All around me are people doing the same, though it’s polite sipping rather than getting sloshed. Waiters ferry bottles between the terrace function rooms, where MPs are hosting dinners or campaign launches like the one I’m at. Between the clanging division bells summoning MPs for votes that will go on tonight until gone 11pm, the Strangers’ bar is doing its usual trade.
Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist
