Parliament’s biggest bar is “virtually a gay bar now”, a homosexual Labour MP has said.
Shadow immigration minister Chris Bryant made the bold claim during a debate on Parliamentary Representation last week.
He said: “It is significant that we now have more out gay Members of Parliament than ever before.
Homosexual
“Indeed, sometimes when you go into the Strangers Bar you feel as though you are in Rupert Street. It is virtually a gay bar now”.
Mr Bryant, the MP for Rhondda, also suggested that there are not enough homosexual MPs, saying that the current number does not “come near matching the numbers in the country in terms of the percentage of the population.”
Strangers Bar, which is only open to MPs and their guests, overlooks the House of Commons terrace.
Squandering
Mr Bryant and his partner Jared Cranney became the first men to have a civil partnership in the Palace of Westminster in 2010.
Last year John Bercow, the Speaker of the House of Commons, was criticised for squandering over £20,000 of taxpayers’ money on his new coat of arms, which features a prominent ‘equality’ rainbow.