MPs plot return of Annie’s Bar to House of Commons

A comeback is on the cards for Annie's Bar, the famous House of Commons watering-hole where MPs used to slip stories to their favourite journalists over a pink gin.

In its heyday, Annie's Bar, named after the 'Anno Domini' sign over the door rather than any barmaid, was sited off the members' lobby. It was allegedly the spot where Charles Stewart Parnell made love to Mrs Kitty O'Shea and where Winston Churchill took a bracer before big debates.
 
MPs could carouse with journalists with little fear of indiscretions being reported, under the 'Annie's Bar rules' of confidentiality.

In the Thatcher years, it was moved to a small room in the bowels of Westminster below the chamber. It was handily placed, around the corner from the Strangers' Cafeteria, and within short staggering distance of the terrace overlooking the Thames.

Some ministers were urged not to go to Annie's Bar for fear of what they might let slip to the press. However, a few independent-minded ministers stuck to their nightly ritual, regardless of what the spin doctors said. Ken Clarke, the chancellor in John Major's government, was an habituee of Annie's Bar, and always drank beer.

During the Blair era, Annie's Bar was moved to a more obscure corner of the Commons basement and it lost its former glory. After a fall in trade, it was eventually closed and suffered the indignity of being replaced by a deli serving smoothies instead of double whiskies.

The comeback is being proposed by the House of Commons Administration Committee who believe reviving the name could help to boost takings in the existing press bar, above the chamber, on the third floor of the wing of the Palace of Westminster that stretches down to Big Ben.

This is currently named Moncrieff's, after Chris Moncrieff, the redoubtable former political editor of the Press Association, famous for his scoops and Dickensian writing style.

The cross-party committee chaired by Tory grandee Sir Alan Haselhurst is proposing to keep the name Moncrieff's for the journalists' coffee bar and self-service restaurant but rename their bar area Annie's and open it to MPs' staff and other workers in the Palace of Westminster.

This is not the only 'big idea' for a reform of Commons catering, aimed at reducing the annual taxpayers' subsidy of £5.7m for running Parliament. And some of the reforms have got MPs in a terrible flap.

There's a plan to close the Debate, a low-cost cafeteria off the atrium of Portcullis House, and another proposal to convert the Adjournment, a modern dining room for MPs' exclusive use, into a snack bar.

"You won't hear us complaining in public, after the expenses saga, but I am absolutely furious that they are closing down our restaurants at night," one Labour MP told The First Post's Westminster Mole. "We still have to hang around for late votes, but this place is in danger of becoming a food desert."

Other ideas for raising revenue include opening up the Terrace Pavilion - with views across the Thames - for cream teas for the general public and even making the Palace of Westminster available for wedding ceremonies.

Whatever next? Another pink gin, Annie! ·