Inside the Commons2015

[Charles Kennedy is showing the camera around the Members' Cloakroom. He points to a row of coat-hangers]

Charles Kennedy:
I suppose the only idiosyncratic feature of these is the pinkish ribbons, and would you believe this is for Honourable and Right Honourable Members, once they've hung their coats, to hang their swords. There you are. I have to say I've never seen them used in all the decades I've been here, but if you wanted to avail yourself of the opportunity, this is the place to come.

[as he carries on walking through the cloakroom, an attendant draws his attention to something]

Charles Kennedy:
Oh! Now look at that! This is the place where you say something and the minute you say it, it's contradicted. I suppose that's what the Mother of Parliament is supposed to be about. Somebody has actually got a wooden sword attached to their tassel. There's always a first for everything and we didn't make that up.