Now that Labour MP Neil Coyle has been suspended from Parliament’s bars for drunkenly screaming “f*ck you, lose some weight” to Craig Williams in front of a packed crowd in Strangers’, talks of reining in the bar’s infamous drinking culture has soon picked up steam in some quarters. Luckily, the rumours of Strangers’ death are greatly exaggerated… 

Speaking to Naga Munchetty on BBC Radio 5 Live, Speaker Lindsay Hoyle defended Parliament’s favourite watering hole despite its “bad reputation”, and insisted it should stay open evermore:

“People work very long hours and the fact is that to have a social drink is never a problem. We are a big village and within a village there is usually an outlet. Strangers’ Bar has had a bad reputation. I want it to have a better reputation […] the right standards, the right protection and that it is there for social drinking, not heavy drinking.”

Guido raises his glass…