VIDEO - Someone touched Parliament's special mace, and British Twitter is losing it

By Morgan Sung 2018-12-10 23:18:55 UTC

Forget surgery on a grape. After Prime Minister Theresa May postponed the parliamentary vote on her contentious Brexit deal, Labour representative Lloyd Russell-Moyle defiantly marched to the center of the room, picked up the mace — which looks like a large, fancy club — and attempted to leave with it. 

SEE ALSO: This brutally honest reporter perfectly sums up how Brexit is going

Fellow members of Parliament were horrified by the statement. The mace is a "symbol of royal authority" and without it, the House can't meet or pass laws. 

Russell-Moyle was met with an angry uproar as fellow MPs shouted at him to "put it back." He attempted to leave with the massive gold club, but was stopped at the door and asked to "withdraw from the chamber," according to the Guardian.

Twitter users quickly reacted with jokes.

john bercow's half-hearted and utterly impotent murmurs of 'no, no, no, nono, no..." are really the brexit 'negotiations' in a nutshell https://t.co/PwureZBwQp

— Bim Adewunmi (@bimadew) December 10, 2018

Britain to the world:
We are a noble, respected and extremely advanced democracy

Also Britain:

Oh it’s all kicking off now, they’ve grabbed the big mace!pic.twitter.com/yPoFOcvoyx

— James Felton (@JimMFelton) December 10, 2018

Trump is going to throw a temper tantrum over not having a mace

— Roland Scahill (@rolandscahill) December 10, 2018

i haven't seen a mace this misused since the star wars prequels

— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) December 10, 2018

The important context that you have to understand here is that the Mace is like Thor's hammer. Not just anybody can pick it up - for most of us, it would appear bolted to the floor. But Lloyd Russell-Moyle is no mortal man https://t.co/5g8avbeMUg

— Tom Gara (@tomgara) December 10, 2018

sorry for all the retweets of UK parliamentary drama but this account is now

(•_•)

( •_•)>⌐■-■

(⌐■_■)

all about dat mace

bout dat mace

— Hayes Brown (@HayesBrown) December 10, 2018

What's the American equivalent of steeling the ceremonial mace? Raiding the Senate candy desk?

— Benjy Sarlin: Endgame (@BenjySarlin) December 10, 2018

I have taken
the mace
that was on
the desk

and which

you probably
considered
a breach of decorum

Forgive me

it was a political prop
so heavy
and so meaningless

— Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) December 10, 2018

I have taken
the mace
that was on
the table

and which

you were probably
saving
for keeping order

Forgive me

It’s legislative power was so delicious
so sweet
and so cold

— Rickin’ Around the Christmas Tree (@CrystalPepsi) December 10, 2018

Ceremonial Mace Twitter is a strange place.

— Olivier Knox (@OKnox) December 10, 2018

I'm going to pick up the mace too

— Italian Alex Pareene (@pareene) December 10, 2018

hell yes it's been ages since someone grabbed the Magic Mace That Must Not Be Touched

— 📻 Little Drum Machine Boy 🥁🎄 (@nailheadparty) December 10, 2018

To my American followers; if u grab the mace & manage to keep hold of it for longer than 2 minutes while chanting ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’, u become the next ruler of England.
This is how Queen Victoria claimed the throne, but BIASED HISTORIANS won’t tell u about it. https://t.co/ATT9hAqRM4

— Daniel Sugarman (@Daniel_Sugarman) December 10, 2018

I want an article about the clear division between US scandals like Watergate and UK scandals like what just happened in Parliament

It could be called

THE MACE 'N' NIXON LINE

— Hayes Brown (@HayesBrown) December 10, 2018

I want an article about the clear division between US scandals like Watergate and UK scandals like what just happened in Parliament

It could be called

THE MACE 'N' NIXON LINE

— Hayes Brown (@HayesBrown) December 10, 2018

The MP grabbing and walking with the ceremonial mace is outrageous to the British because the mace represents Parliament's royally derived authority, so it's a gesture of contempt to the most fundamental principle of the body, like disagreeing with a white guy in Congress.

— ThankYouForNotSmockingHat (@Popehat) December 10, 2018

the parliament mace thing shows why a British person could never invent a character like The Joker. the most insane thing to them is like, drinking the wrong tea during a ceremony honoring a tax accessor from 1610

— soon theyll be calling me “MR BRIGHTSIDE” (@ByYourLogic) December 10, 2018

It's been nearly 10 years since the last time someone made a grab for the ceremonial mace. In Jan 2009, Labour MP John McDonnell called the governing body's refusal to hold a vote a "disgrace to the democracy of this country" as he picked up the mace and put it down on a nearby bench.

British government scandals really are something else.

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