A Labour member of the House of Lords was told off and blocked from speaking, for falling asleep during a parliamentary debate on Monday.
Lord Young, of Norwood Green, was scolded by Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist for nodding off in the House of Lords. You can watch the moment below:
During the debate, Lord Young stood to discuss his opinions on a bill regarding the genetic modification of crops, which would allow the UK to deviate from EU law.
Advert
He began: “I wanted to take part in this debate because I stake my position as somebody who is a remainer, but if there’s two things that I welcome in coming out of the common market..."
But Lord Young was swiftly interrupted by Baroness Bloomfield, who claimed that Lord Young had been asleep during the minister's speech.
Baroness Bloomfield even revealed how she had had to send Lord Young 'a note' to wake him up and suggested he should not be allowed to participate in the debate as a result.
Advert
The clip was shared on social media, where users weren't impressed.
One person wrote: "And he gets paid how much to be there? If I fell asleep when supposed to be working I would be rightly reprimanded. Well done to Lady Bloomfield for not letting his nap go unnoticed."
Lord Young isn't the only person who has fallen asleep in parliament. Back in 2018, a photograph of Tory MP Sir Desmond Swayne went viral after he nodded off during Ken Clarke's Brexit speech.
Advert
Speaking about the moment, Sir Desmond later apologised for the incident and said: “I apologise. One moment I was listening to Ken and the next I had nodded off momentarily.
"I am not aware of it happening before, and it certainly won't happen again.”
Lucy Devine