Strangers’ Bar in the Palace of Westminster has been at the centre of affairs, plots, gropes and punch-ups for decades.
It is both the best-situated and most notorious bar in the country. But incendiary new claims that an MP tried to use a date rape drug on its premises could finally give the authorities an excuse to shut the historic watering hole for ever.
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle is not a fan of Strangers’, having grown tired of the constant flow of scandal it produces.
So when Sue Gray, the then Chief of Staff to Sir Keir Starmer, asked Sir Lindsay if he could shut the bar permanently in the run-up to last year’s General Election, he listened carefully to her arguments.
Now the Speaker – who restricts himself to an occasional, solitary glass of champagne – has ordered Strangers’ to close while a security review is completed into claims by a parliamentary researcher that her drink had been spiked.
The Mail on Sunday understands that the suspect is an MP, although it is not known which party he represents. ‘She saw an MP’s pass, but not the name,’ a source said.
In addition to the police investigation, there will be a internal Commons inquiry into safety at Strangers’ overseen by Alison Giles, Parliament’s Director of Security – which many MPs fear will act as the pretext for a permanent closure.
A source said: ‘Lindsay wouldn’t mind shutting it for ever, regardless of the facts of this particular case, but he knows that would not make him very popular. At the very least, it is likely to be bristling with CCTV cameras from now on and restricted to a much tighter category of passholders.’
Strangers Bar in the Palace of Westminster is both the best-situated and most notorious bar in the country – but incendiary new claims that an MP tried to use a date rape drug on its premises could finally give the authorities an excuse to shut the historic watering hole for ever
The source added: ‘We don’t know if it will ever reopen. These are very serious allegations. Nothing has been decided. We have to let the security review do its bit.’
Strangers’ follows in a long tradition of Westminster hostelries dating back centuries to when there were three alehouses called Heaven, Hell and Purgatory which were incinerated along with the old medieval palace when it burned down in 1834 and was replaced by the current parliament building.
The frequent punch-ups in the bar can have far-reaching political consequences. In 2012 Eric Joyce, the Labour member for Falkirk, complained loudly that the venue was ‘full of f*****g Tories’, before headbutting Conservative MP Stuart Andrew and thumping his own party’s assistant whip Phil Wilson. It was an incident that set in train a domino effect which led to the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader.
In the resulting Falkirk by-election, the Unite union was accused of trying to stitch up the candidate selection for Left-winger Karie Murphy, who was close to the union’s general secretary Len McCluskey. This prompted Labour leader Ed Miliband to try to break the power of the unions by introducing a one-member-one-vote system, with the price of membership slashed to £3 – which in turn allowed thousands of Left-wing activists to propel Mr Corbyn into his disastrous leadership.
Long-standing ex-Labour politician Diane Abbott (right) pours a pint in the bar with Hackney South and Shoreditch MP Meg Hillier
The boozy cross-party camaraderie can be a volatile cocktail too. When, in 2022, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner joked with Tory MPs on the Strangers’ terrace that she used her feminine wiles to distract Boris Johnson in the Commons, her words found their way into the MoS – which she then condemned as ‘sexist’ for reporting her joke, inciting a social-media storm.
Barely a month goes by without drink-related incidents. In 2023, Labour MP Neil Coyle was suspended from the Commons for making racist comments in Strangers’ towards a journalist and engaging in ‘foul-mouthed and drunken abuse’ of a Labour aide. In 2010, Tory MP Mark Reckless admitted having so much to drink on the Strangers’ terrace that he missed a vote on the Budget.
The bar was also at the epicentre of the plot to oust Margaret Thatcher in 1990. On the day of the first ballot in the Tory leadership election, Conservative MPs who had previously supported her downed whiskies in the bar at 11am to summon the courage to vote for Michael Heseltine, hastening her downfall and paving the way for John Major’s Premiership.
Sir Lindsay has acknowledged that MPs have a right to ‘unwind’ after long days, but added: ‘Strangers’ Bar has had a bad reputation – I want it to have a better reputation. I want to make sure that we have the right standards, the right protection in there and that it is there for social drinking, not heavy drinking.’
Whips have privately pointed out that closing on-site bars would force thirsty MPs to drink elsewhere, making their job harder.
Ms Gray last year denied trying to shut the bars. But the former pub landlady in IRA bandit country was said to be concerned that the anticipated influx of novice Labour MPs at the election posed a huge discipline problem for whips.
Labour’s Jess Phillips said at the time that, while there was a ‘problematic’ drinking culture at Westminster, she did not think ‘banning was the answer’ or would reduce the ‘sex pest’ problem. Noting her colleagues’ love of a drink, she suggested Ms Gray would have ‘more chance of sprouting wings’ than instituting a booze ban.
