After a tense round of debating in the house of commons Labour MPs succeeded in forcing through an amendment to the Brexit bill which will allow them to take toilet breaks during the final vote on whatever deal the government reaches with the European commission allowing the UK to leave the European union.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn hailed the amendment as the first step by his party in insuring that the United kingdom leaves the European Union with a deal which will protect the rights of British workers and their families.
“This amendment ensures that when the government presents its Brexit agreement to parliament, we won’t be caught short, or left with our pants down,” he said.
“The real fight starts now, we will use every opportunity to ensure Brexit protects jobs, living standards and toilet breaks. Other than those we have to use to nip off to syphon the python, obviously,” he said.
Speaking to reporters after the vote Corbyn denied that his apparent disappearance during the Brexit referendum campaign was due to his not really wanting Britain to stay in the European union anyway.
“That’s just not true,” he said. “But as party leader I do need to quite frequently consult with the national executive, or see a man about a dog, or indeed sometimes a horse,” he added.
However Corbyn’s success with his amendment did not prevent a large number of labour MPs from ignoring his three line whip and voting against both the amendment and the Brexit bill itself.
“Frankly Jeremy has been taking the piss since the moment he stood for the leadership,” complained one rebel MP.
“He took the piss right through the referendum, and when he wasn’t taking the piss, he was off somewhere having one, in order to avoid saying anything, and as a result having the piss taken out of him. The leave campaign never had that problem, they were too busy wetting themselves laughing.” he added.
