Sitting MP was ‘necking 16 pints of Stella Artois a night’ before revelation
As he approaches his one-year anniversary of giving up booze, Labour MP Neil Coyle has opened up about how his 16-pints-of-Stella-a-night habit almost killed him.
At the height of his alcohol consumption, Coyle would down three or four lagers an hour in Parliament’s Strangers Bar – a level of drinking that doctors warned him would soon lead to a stroke or heart attack and probably death.
The 44-year-old dad-of-one was introduced to alcohol at the age of 14 when his parents took him to a Luton social club and he pretty much didn’t stop until March 1 last year, the Daily Mirror reports.
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As a Hull University student, he used to play a golf course drinking game, which involved sinking a pint in 18 different watering holes.
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(Image: Daily Record)
“I was always a big drinker,” he explained. “I was one of those who could always put it away.”
On the prospect of completing 12 months sober, though, he added: “I’m amazed I have got this far. I won’t pretend it was easy but I had to give up.
“I was drinking up to 16 pints of lager a night. I was advised to cease gradually and given medication to prevent my body reacting badly to the lack of alcohol.
“The doctors said if I didn’t cease I’d probably have a stroke, heart attack and kill myself. I’ve saved hundreds of pounds, sleep better, lost nearly three stones, am more energetic and active, saved time with no hangovers and am doing more with my daughter, which is brilliant.”
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(Image: Tolga Akmen/Lnp/REX/Shutterstock)
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Outspoken Coyle, MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark in London, took the seat for Labour from Liberal Democrat Simon Hughes in 2015.
His excessive drinking was usually five nights a week, Sunday to Thursday, and the deaths in 2021 of his father and a close friend led to him consuming more.
The brutal wake-up call came over two nights in Parliament a year ago this month.
On the first, he swore loudly at a Labour aide.
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(Image: Mirror Screen Grab)
The following evening, he was accused of racist comments to a journalist of British Chinese heritage by referring to China as “Fu Manchu” a stereotypical supervillain from the early 20th Century.
He made other derogatory comments and was suspended by Labour and banned from Parliament’s bars for six months.
Coyle now attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in Parliament and Bermondsey, adding: “You’re made to feel welcome and discover people from all backgrounds are going through it, some with experiences much worse than yours.”
He is awaiting a report by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards into his behaviour and possible punishment.
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