PARLIAMENT was forced to make an embarrassing U-turn today, driven by public anger over its bars and restaurants being exempt from the 10pm curfew.

MPs, lords and parliamentary staff would have been allowed to continue drinking past 10pm in the Palace of Westminster because its watering holes had been classed as “workplace canteens” under PM Boris Johnson’s coronavirus rules.

Hospitality businesses across England have had to close at 10pm under regulations imposed from Thursday in a supposed bid to slow the spread of the virus.