To think MPs shouldn’t be drinking while at work?

[greywildoceans]

There’s a big debate going on after new Green MP Hannah Smith has come out and said that you can smell the alcohol on MPs after lunchtime.

https://x.com/politicsjoe_uk/status/2048323140804100487?s=46

Of course all the usual lot are coming out saying it’s a British tradition to drink at work and she’s being “anti British”. I’ve worked in the public sector and the private sector and I have never encountered anyone who thought it was appropriate to drink while working. I’m confident that if anyone did, they’d be fired.

AIBU to say MPs should be banned from drinking while working?

https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/unelected-peers-guzzle-ps110000-worth-of-champagne-in-the-house-of-lords-in-2025-5456134

£110,000 on bubbly just in HoL

Are you imagining they’re earnestly sitting there in the chamber mulling over matters of conscience and crunching data in their heads to work out which way to vote?

You’d be very much mistaken in that case! All they have to do is walk through the door their party whips tell them to. An inebriated trained chimp could manage it!

That’s not to say they don’t need their wits about them at any other time, but voting isn’t one of them. The way decisions get made is the ruling party sets out legislation and they vote on that in accordance with their party’s diktats. Dissent is rare and would be thought through in advance. Any brainwork is done in the civil service, ministerial offices and the MP’s offices.

I’m a bit baffled as to why people think that because some professions ban lunchtime drinking, that all should.

It depends what you do, as to whether it’s a problem. Operating heavy machinery, performing surgery and jobs like that where precision is a must will of course enforce a strictly no alcohol policy, for obvious reasons. But the risks don’t apply uniformly to all occupations. So it makes sense that policy will vary.

So much rubbish on this thread. Of course airline pilots or heart surgeons can't drink on the job. But on occasion, people in office type jobs can, and do enjoy a pint or two on a lunchtime and continue to function. The two are not comparable and it is stupid to play the zero sum game on this. People talk like it is binary, go full Oliver Cromwell or go full Oliver Read.

I don't disagree that we should expect seriousness from our politicians, but there is a huge difference between having a pint or two waiting for a vote, and running government pissed up.

Whilst a full on drinking culture in the workplace is unhealthy, in my opinion the kind of po-faced puritanical attitudes on here are part of the real decline in people's happiness at work. Work is now more serious and sterile. We micro-manage, we spend more time working from home (a great thing for many, but it has detracted from culture) and we are obsessed with KPIs and think team bonding is based on a slice of pizza and virtual yoga sessions. The team cohesion and employee buy in of a Friday lunchtime pint far outweighs any slight tail of in productivity.

Just start charging standard high street prices for the booze, as a first step.

No not really

Neither a drink or a drunk is acceptable at lunch time.

Re the drugs comments, I think that the current law does not work - and if it was regulated then the crimes around the drugs trade should also come down. We would also be able to ensure that people are getting a standardised amount and not cut to shit with drain cleaner.

A first knee jerk response is "thats terrible", but when you dig deeper in to the reasons it actually makes a lot of sense. People WILL do drugs, so lets protect them as much as we can (from themselves too!)

The Green Party has previously campaigned to decriminalise drug possession in the UK, with Spencer telling the BBC it was a “conversation that we need to have.”

In 2024, the party proposed the establishment of a regulated market, a position reaffirmed by leader Polanski during his leadership speech in October. On a visit to the Gorton and Denton constituency on Sunday 22 February, he said he would “legalise, regulate and control” all drugs under a “public health, evidence-based approach”.
“We have the worst amount of drug deaths in the whole of Europe,” he said. “I think that fact’s often missing from this conversation.”

The facts
According to Jones, drug seizures are at a “record high” under Labour, which is taking a “common sense approach” to tackling drug-related organised crime while “investing billions in drug prevention and treatment”.

Yet drug-related deaths are currently at a 30-year high, with reports of a four-fold increase in fatalities from synthetic opioids. More than 300,000 adults were registered with drug and alcohol treatment services in 2024, according to ONS figures.

Meanwhile, the illegal drug trade continues to fuel violent crime, disorder, and child exploitation. In England, the Children’s Society estimates that 46,000 children are being exploited by organised crime and recruited into “County Lines” gangs, with those living in more deprived areas particularly vulnerable.

Magestically put 😍

point still stands

@Everanewbie

Spot on!

In comms / media agencies it used to be the norm, especially with the “creatives”. They used to come back giggling, half drunk and they charged the hour to some poor client. It was not ok, but it’s probably still the case.

It’s not acceptable, but neither is legalising all drugs. Does she think it would be fine for people to take drugs before or during work? How dangerous would it be if drugs were still in people’s systems from the weekend or the night before? Many drugs can remain in the body and affect people for longer than alcohol, impairing judgement, reaction times, coordination, and concentration well after use. Lunatic idea!

@Everanewbie

Well said.

@maftaz @TheEyesOfLucyJordon thanks! Quick MN chatter, just off to pour out a double brandy before my 10:30 zoom call.

That's the spirit ha ha 😂

Of course taxpayers pay for this - all the catering in parliament is subsidised, famously cheap food and drink for very well paid people, so of course we pay for their steak dinners and booze.

Just because she says something doesn’t mean I believe it to be true.

Of course it is not appalling to have a drink. What would be unacceptable is to be drunk.

Two entirely different things.

What most people dont realise is that an MPs job is not a 9-5 desk based job where the office is in Westminster.

It's a 365 day role.

The Commons used to be a place where sittings happened late because MPs were allowed jobs and did the business in afternoons and evenings, even having late night sittings to get government business done.

It was changed, in part to make it more female-friendly as we have increased the number of women MPs and as men do more of the household work (ok, not that bit)

In that context drinking and eating on the premises made a lot more sense.

Lots of people work in jobs that are not 9-5 or fully desk based. I don't think that's an excuse to be drinking alcohol while working.

I didn't say it was.

But if your job is 365 days a year, the implication is that you can only ever drink while on vacation.

Again, not an excuse to be drinking while working!
Don’t do the job if this is a problem.

So an MP, who has been working in their commons office all morning, then debating in the chamber all afternoon, votes, and has 1 small glass of wine while awaiting the results of the vote is somehow doing wrong? If so, why? Do you think their ability to wait for a result is impacted? Why would you ban it unless you just wanted to flagellate someone and restrict them because they are doing a job?

Do you object to a newspaper editor working all day, having a couple of pints after their hard work is done before going back in to the office to check something or send an email?

Every company I have worked for beyond the mid 90s did not allow people to drink at lunch time, or any time of the working day.

Conflating drinking at lunch time with the Greens policy on drugs shows you don’t actually understand their policy on drugs. It actually aligns with their drugs policy if you care to take the time to look.

Ok, but that’s your opinion. Others have a different one.

I worked in an office in the 80s and we always went for a pub lunch on Friday - only one drink though
Wouldn’t dream of it now - only day drink on holiday - at weekends locally we usually go out for coffee instead

Yes it is my opinion. I don't think it is acceptable for MPs to drink alcohol while at work. The working hours are irrelevant.