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| Drew Hendry, Charlotte Nichols and David Linden |
Three left-wing MPs reportedly got so drunk en route to a military event in Gibraltar that one of them - Labour's Charlotte Nichols - had to be taken to a minibus in a wheelchair. It is also claimed that the SNP's Drew Hendry and David Linden became 'rude' and 'lairy' when their vaccine passports did not work as they went through airport security. A military guide is said to have intervened in order to calm the situation.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace is understood to be making a formal complaint to Keir Starmer and Ian Blackford after hearing about the MPs' behaviour from military escorts who were on the flight. Wallace said on Wednesday: "This type of behaviour shows a lack of respect for the enduring work of our Armed Forces". He added that the MPs had put military personnel in a 'difficult position' and risked 'undermining respect for Parliament'. The trio are believed to have been inebriated prior to boarding at Heathrow and continued drinking onboard. Nichols was so drunk by the time they landed that she was put in a wheelchair in order to get her from the baggage area to a waiting minibus.
As part of the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme, the trio were due to attend a welcome dinner before meeting with Gibraltar's Chief Minister on Tuesday morning and engaging in various events leading up to Armistice Day. Nichols was too drunk to attend the dinner and was instead dispatched straight to a hotel in order to sleep it off. She is later reported to have flown back early and does not appear in any photos from the trip that have been posted online.
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| MPs line up in combat gear during their trip to Gibraltar. Hendry and Linden can be seen second and third from the right |
Hendry and Linden have strenuously denied the allegations, calling them a 'Tory smear'. Nichols admitted that MPs had been drinking, but claimed that her dishevelled state was due to medication she is taking having mixed with the alcohol. She told The Sun: "Everyone had had a few drinks on the flight. The issue for me is the medication I am taking. That affected my tolerance. I had the same amount to drink as the others. I do not know how many drinks I had - I wasn’t counting. It was less than five". She doesn't know how many drinks she had, but it was less than five? That's a contradictory statement if ever there was one.
There were 15 MPs on the trip in total, but there is no suggestion that anyone else was involved in disorderly behaviour.
Charlotte Nichols is the Labour MP for Warrington North and a member of the hard left Socialist Campaign Group. Drew Hendry represents the constituency of Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey. David Linden is the MP for Glasgow East.
