Bruiser Tommy set to Lord it

DURING two decades as a Rutherglen MP, former shop steward Tommy McAvoy built up a fearsome reputation which is making his fellow peers nervous since he became Jeremy Corbyn’s new Lords Chief Whip. When asked if it was true that as a Commons whip he threatened MPs who feigned illness to avoid a vote with a thermometer to check if they were really ill, Baron McAvoy replied gruffly: ‘Aye. I used a rectal thermometer – and I’ve still got it. I’ll bring it in next week.’