This guy needs a pint. And then another pint.

A Kent MP has apologised for being drunk in the House of Commons and missing a vote on the Budget.

Mark Reckless said he did not feel it was appropriate to take part in the vote in the early hours of Wednesday because of the amount he had drunk.

Despite the sorts of ire that Guido can summon about the subsidised alcohol at the Houses of Parliament, I think that our MPs getting drunk during their shift can only be a good thing. It’s the really cold, sober MPs that you have to look out for; the well meaning fools who are convinced that they’re doing the absolute best for the children and who will work throughout the night entirely without chemical relaxation. They’ll screw us all with bad laws; the ones who are off getting drunk are far too busy to worry about paragraph 2, section 3, clause 17 and how it affects the three miners left in Aberystwyth.

So, young Mr Reckless is to be applauded, and I hope that he can convince other MPs to follow his sterling example.