Armanis and sarnies fall foul of Westminster watchdogs

Officials at Westminster have rejected an Early Day Motion tabled by Knowsley North MP George Howarth to celebrate Liverpool's Capital of Culture status.

The EMD - a notice put out in Parliament to get the support of fellow MPs - was specially penned by local poet Roger McGough, but fell at the first hurdle when the Table Office banned it from the House of Commons.

Officials have not yet revealed why the poem was banned, but there is speculation that lines like this one -

So it's off with the trackies and on with the Armanis
Out with the champagne and the caviar sarnies

- were too colloquial for an Early Day Motion, which is supposed to be free from slang.

Howarth was disappointed, however, saying that "there is nothing in the rules to say you can't have an EDM in rhyming couplets and the clerk was ready to accept it.

"But Roger had the ingenious idea of rhyming 'Armani' with 'sarnie' - and that was sufficient grounds for him to reject it."

McGough added, "It may be that the authorities thought it was somehow cheeky, but it wasn't. It was a genuine expression of delight. It is a shame it has not been accepted."

Interviewed for Channel 4 last night, the Scouse rhymster admitted that "if you write a poem and the poem ruffles a few feathers, then the poem's worth it."

The (banned) motion in full

That this House congratulates the people of Liverpool

For scousers, as you all know
Aren't given to boasting or making a show
Stiff upper lip, that's our motto
When we speak it's voce sotto
But the city has something to celebrate
European Capital of Culture, two thousand and eight.
So it's off with the trackies and on with the Armanis
Out with the champagne and the caviar sarnies

The chance to invest in what it does best,
Dance, drama, music and the rest.
'The Town of the Talk', more sinned against than sinning
If not a new Jerusalem, at least a new beginning.

That this House shares the sense of pride,
Of purpose and spirit, on Merseyside.