A British lawmaker has been immortalized in meme form after he treated the front bench of Parliament like the couch in his living room, lounging during a debate over the U.K.’s ever-deepening Brexit fiasco.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, Leader of the House of Commons for the governing Conservative Party, decided to take it easy on Tuesday while his party’s majority collapsed.
Photos and video from a late-night Brexit debate show Rees-Mogg slouching against the armrest of his front-row bench, with his body draped across the seats and his legs crossed.
Rees-Mogg’s casual posture ignited fury on the other side of the aisle, prompting several opposition Members of Parliament to heckle him.
Green Party lawmaker Caroline Lucas described Rees-Mogg’s posture as “contemptuous,” prompting a chorus of shouts from other lawmakers.
“Sit up, man!” they yelled. “Sit up straight!”
Lucas described Rees-Mogg’s posture to ensure that it would be written down in the parliamentary record.
Rees-Mogg simply raised his eyebrows and adjusted his glasses during her tirade.
Rees-Mogg’s indifference triggered a flood of memes online, where many Brits suggested that he was emblematic of the self-destructive Brexit process.
Others used Photoshop to edit Rees-Mogg into various ridiculous situations, including a Simpsons couch gag.
Rees-Mogg’s ruling Conservative party later collapsed after 21 of its MPs rebelled in a vote over a no-deal Brexit. The rebellion effectively destroyed U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson‘s majority and his plans to force through no-deal Brexit on Oct. 31.
Johnson is now seeking a snap election in hopes of winning back a majority that can push through with its Brexit plans next month.
WATCH: Boris Johnson plans to call snap election
In other words, Rees-Mogg ended up slouching through a debate that tore his party — and the U.K. government — apart.
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