Does Westminster really shut down for Christmas?

If politicians sit back to catch up on their festive TV, it will only be for a few short hours

In the aftermath of an election, MPs won’t have time to take a festive break this year (AP)

Given there was a general election just two weeks ago – and months of turmoil at Westminster preceding the vote – it would hardly have been surprising to witness more tribal members of your family choosing the colour of their Christmas cracker hats to reflect their political allegiances yesterday afternoon.

With one in five British adults predicting a political dispute over the dinner table with relatives this year, politics would have undoubtedly been a major topic of conversation over the turkey dinner.

It’s also the one time of year when all MPs, their aides and Westminster journalists (myself included) decamp from the House of Commons and move away from knife-edge votes to spend a little quality time on the sofa. To coin a phrase: it’s a time to reflect.

But does this mean the political wheel stops spinning? Well, perhaps for a few short hours.

While the corridors of Westminster are empty, politicians’ WhatsApp message groups will soon begin buzzing again. Bids for the leadership of the Labour Party cannot wait until the House of Commons rises on 7 January. And with Britain due to sever its legal ties with its biggest trading partner in just over five weeks, ministers and civil servants will undoubtedly be hard at work beforehand.

The prime minister will have to take his ministerial red box to the private Caribbean island of Mustique where he will reportedly see in the new year with his partner Carrie Symonds.

There’s also the unpredictable. One aide to a former party leader told me how, during festivities several years ago, he spent a good proportion of Christmas Day attempting to reach his boss to sign off a statement to the press on flooding in his constituency.

Understandably, the MP had gone off the radar for the day. Needless to say those closest to said aide were less than impressed as he desperately attempted to contact his boss and entered flooding statistics into a search engine from his living room sofa as relatives prepared the dinner.

Yours,

Ashley Cowburn

Political correspondent