An FOI request by the Yorkshire Post has revealed significant internal strife over the re-branding of Parliament’s unjustly maligned Sports and Social Bar over the summer. Commons Clerk David Natzler was concerned that the new name “The Woolsack” risked associating the “reputation of the bar [not a thing I would want to be tied to]” with the “dignity and position” of the House of Lords. In one rather sarcastic email Natzler wrote: “if Benet etc are happy with the risk I look forward to headlines ‘Woolsack closed after sexual assault claims’. Don’t you have a heraldic animal or something…”

Interestingly, seemingly no one picked up on the anatomical nickname the Woolsack has quickly earned among the researchers who frequent it. At the time officials advised against a naming competition due to the risk of it “being mocked in the press.” Spoil Sports…