IT is not every day you hear a lion's roar in the House of Commons, or, in this case, an MP impersonating a lion's roar.

 

Step up the SNP's leonine Angus Brendan MacNeil, who, in parliamentary terms, seeks to roar regularly for the Western Isles.

His big moment came after Labour's Angela Eagle, the Shadow Commons Leader, sought to goad the Nationalist lion, telling MPs: "The vaingloriously self-styled Scottish 56 have now been in parliament for nearly a month. They have promised to make the Scottish lion roar at Westminster but so far it's been more of a whimper."

She pointed out how, as of Friday, out of the 1300 oral questions asked of government, the SNP lions had barely managed one each.

The Labour frontbencher also noted how the Nationalists had put down what they thought was a reasoned amendment to the second reading of the Scotland bill but that it was so badly drafted it was ruled out of scope and not called, meaning they were unable to even vote on it.

"They tried to amend the EU Referendum Bill but forgot to put their leader's name on it. I'm sure it was just a coincidence that the Honourable Member for Gordon's(Alex Salmond) name appeared at the top instead."

She then went on with reference to Mr MacNeil: "To cap it all off, one of their senior members, who's been here since 2005." At which point the SNP MP quipped to laughter: "Senior?"

Ms Eagle continued: "Most long-standing anyway, Mr Speaker, failed to vote on the Second Reading of the EU Referendum Bill because he was cowering in the toilet in the wrong lobby." Mr MacNeil, as Tory Michael Gove before him, apparently got locked in the lavatory.

"In the light of all this,," concluded Ms Eagle, "the SNP's grand plans to shake up Westminster appear to be going rapidly down the pan."

Pete Wishart, the Nationalist lion for Perth, popped up to defend his good friend, explaining Mr MacNeil was "merely practising his roar in the bathroom last week and a very impressive roar it is too".

At which the MP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar could not resist, saying: "Grrr!"

Mr Wishart, defending the honour of the Nationalist benches, told Ms Eagle: "When it comes to opposition, sometimes it helps when you oppose and not like Labour vote with the Conservatives for two weeks in a row; Labour voting with the Tories, the Tories with Labour.

"This," he roared, "is where the real opposition takes place!"

Later, Will Quince, the new Conservative MP for Colchester, kindly invited SNP MPs to visit his town's zoo - so they could "work on their roar".