Incredibly inconvenient

Date: 27/02/1997

To pee or not to pee, that was the question confronting British Labour Euro-leader Wayne David last week.

Or, to put it another way, when you've got to go, you've got to go, and off David went to answer an urgent call of nature at a crucial stage in a Socialist Group bureau rumpus over whether the UK should be told to give back some of the EU funds it had received to tackle the BSE crisis.

The bureau was deadlocked, with the Italians and French in favour and the British and Germans opposed - until the Briton could keep his legs crossed no longer.

And while David was out of the way, the ruthless Italians and French called for a show of hands.

By the time the relieved leader returned, it was all over, with victory to the French and Italians by that crucial one vote.

The incident merely underlined the truth of the dictum regularly uttered by a previous Labour Group leader Barbara Castle: “Never leave a Socialist bureau meeting. They will always take the wrong decision in your absence.”