CHEERS!

A shamed Tory MP has admitted he was too drunk to vote in the debate on the Budget after a night of debauched behaviour on the Commons terrace.

Former banker Mark Reckless was so inebriated that he fell to the floor of a Commons bar before the crucial vote in the early hours of the morning, before being bundled into a taxi home by fellow MPs.

Conservative chiefs also apologised after another MP, Sheryll Murray, was allegedly rude to a parliamentary official after she, too, had been drinking on the terrace overlooking the Thames.

The extraordinary scenes came during a six-hour drinking session that lasted until 2.30am on Wednesday, involving dozens of MPs and their aides.
Commons bars took a record £5,000 during the evening as taxpayer-subsidised Pimm’s, wine, beer and champagne flowed.

Witnesses said a ‘significant number’ of MPs who took part in the Budget vote were either drunk or under the influence of alcohol.

‘It was disgusting,’ said a female MP. ‘The chamber and the voting lobbies stank of booze and sweat.

'There we were, voting through the most drastic Budget in decades, and some MPs barely knew where they were, let alone what they were voting for. Some could hardly stand.’

Hmmm. Not sure that a lawmaker (and not just in the UK) needs to get hammered not to know what he's doing, no?