Commons catering staff serve up Eton mess for big day of Brexit

Commons caterers have been raising eyebrows at the choice of dessert being served as MPs debate the future of Brexit.

Amelia-Rose Tighe, parliamentary assistant to Labour’s Yvette Cooper, tweeted a picture of the British classic Eton mess and wrote: “What a day to introduce this dessert in the commons canteen lads.”

MPs are set to stage a series of indicative votes on alternatives to the Prime Minister’s Brexit plan on Wednesday evening.

Ms Tighe told the Press Association: “I never expected it to be this popular at all! I’ve worked here over six months and I’ve never seen it before, it just made me laugh.

“I looked up from Twitter and saw it there and thought, the catering staff must be trolling us today and I would like to buy whoever did it a pint.

“I’m not quite sure what it says about my state of mind that I can’t even pop for a coffee without getting Brexit out of my mind.

“There’s normally yoghurts and doughnuts, rice puddings in the other restaurants, and a proper school dinner-type hot dessert, crumbles and custard galore.”

Former Labour leader Ed Miliband was also quick to point out the choice of sweet treat, writing: “House of Commons catering sense of humour klaxon.”

Signs referring to the traditional dessert were popular at Saturday’s Put It To The People march, alongside pictures of Eton alumni Jacob Rees-Mogg, Boris Johnson and David Cameron.

Although many Twitter users saw the funny side to the tweet, Ms Tighe said the cost of the pudding had raised a few eyebrows.

She added: “I’ve been sent a bit of abuse about the price of the dessert, I think people forget that there are about 5,000 members of staff that work here and lots of them, me included, often eat three meals a day here – it’s not just MPs.”

A spokesman for the House of Commons said: “Eton mess is one of a range of classic desserts regularly served in our catering outlets.”