TOASTIE BAN BITES LORDS
‘Health and safety gone mad’
TOASTED sandwiches have been banned from a House of Lords bar because of health and safety fears.
They are among items that have disappeared from the menu of the Bishops’ Bar – a popular destination for lords in search of a snack during a debate.
Health and safety concerns mean that food preparation is no longer permitted in the bar.
Not only is it no longer possible to get a toastie but custom-made salads and sandwiches have also gone.
A former Deputy Speaker of the Commons has fielded seven parliamentary questions about changes to the bar while new catering arrangements are tried out.
Lord Naseby said he had “lost count of the numbers of colleagues complaining” and said the pre-packaged sandwiches on offer are “nowhere near as good as M&S sandwiches in BP petrol stations”.
Some of the salads now come in a “sort of dog bowl plastic ...to stock up on eggs, flour, sugar, lemons and maybe a jar of Nutella ready for a Pancake Day feast on Tuesday! container”. He was not impressed by the arguments for why the bar was not suitable for food preparation. He was told by Lord Laming, who chairs the services committee, that its members “did not introduce these changes lightly”. When asked if there had been cases of food poisoning, Lord Laming admitted: “We have no record of any incidents of food poisoning as a result of food consumed from Bishops’ Bar.”