AP

The Palace of Westminster including St Stephen's Tower housing the famous Big Ben clock in London. The Palace of Westminster is home to the Commons and the House of Lords. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

A Labour MP was in police custody last night after allegedly going berserk in a House of Commons bar and attacking seven people - including four MPs.

Ex-Army major Eric Joyce had to be restrained by up to eight police officers following the rampage which witnesses described as like a scene from the Wild West.

Tory MP Stuart Andrew was left bleeding from the nose and suffering concussion after apparently being head-butted twice by 51-year-old Mr Joyce. Labour whip Phil Wilson also suffered a cut to his face after attempting to restrain Mr Joyce, who is the MP for Falkirk.

The dramatic scenes unfolded in the Strangers’ Bar, where MPs had been entertaining guests including the Canadian Speaker and a group of children, on Wednesday evening.

The MP, who was suspended from the Labour Party yesterday, was taken to a Belgravia police station where he stayed overnight and was last night being held for questioning. Moments before he was restrained by officers, Mr Joyce, who is reported to have been drinking heavily, is said to have shouted: “There are too many ******* Tories in here.”

Witnesses say the trouble began just after 10.30pm when other drinkers complained that one of Mr Joyce’s male guests was singing in a loud operatic voice.

Mr Joyce became aggressive with a table of nearby Tory MPs.

One of them, Andrew Percy, returned from buying cheese and onion crisps at the bar and said to Mr Joyce: ‘Could I please get my seat back?’

Mr Joyce apparently responded: ‘No you ******* can’t’.

Sources said: “He flipped. It was not really a brawl or a fight. He just flipped and started lashing out.”

The Labour MP is said to have hurled Mr Percy against the wall of the wood-panelled bar before allegedly grabbing Mr Andrew by the tie and throttling and punching him.

Fellow Tory MP Alec Shelbrooke shouted at him: “You do not do that to an MP in this House.” But he claims he was then punched in the head by Mr Joyce.

Conservative councillor Luke Mackenzie and a couple of researchers - who work for Tory MP Jackie Doyle-Price - who were sitting on a neighbouring table were also said to have been punched as they attempted to intervene.

At one point, diminutive Mrs Doyle-Price stepped in to defend her staff, yelling at Mr Joyce: ‘Punch me before you punch my staff.’

The female MP is reported to have attempted to restrain Mr Joyce - a former Scottish judo champion - by trying to pin his hands behind his back. He struggled free.

During the fracas, Labour MPs Phil Wilson and Graham Jones also attempted to drag away Mr Joyce, shouting: “We are one of yours. Calm down.”

But Mr Joyce broke away and is said to have hit Mr Wilson in the face sending him reeled back falling over a table. Witnesses say Mr Wilson’s face was cut and blood was pouring all over his shirt.

Mr Mackenzie, a councillor in Basildon, said: “Two people were standing up and one guy was going for the other. I stepped in between them and I tried to break it up. Punches were flying everywhere. I have a swollen lip, but I am okay.”

When officers arrived on the scene, they restrained Mr Joyce, but let him go after he complained: “I am an MP.”

At this point, one witness claimed: “The police just let him go. They didn’t seem to know what to do because he was shouting at them that he was an MP.

‘Stuart was just standing by the wall. Eric just ran straight at him and head-butted him in the face. His nose started to bleed. It all happened in full view of the police.’

Another said: “It was horrific and shocking. There were tables overturned and drinks smashed everywhere. There was blood everywhere.

“You would expect this on a lads holiday in Faliraki, but not in the Mother of Parliaments.”

One MP added that Mr Joyce had “gone berserk” and had a “dead look behind his eyes”.

As officers dragged the Falkirk MP away, he allegedly smashed a window on a door near Strangers’ Bar. Yesterday, the window was boarded up with tape.

Mr Andrew, who is understood to be pressing charges, yesterday tweeted: “I’m okay.”

Scotland Yard said: ‘We were called at approximately 10.50pm last night [Wednesday] to reports of a disturbance at a bar within the House of Commons.

“A man aged in his 50s was arrested by officers on suspicion of assault. He remains in custody in a central London police station. Inquiries are continuing.”

The Labour Party said: “This is an extremely serious incident. We have suspended Eric Joyce pending the results of the police investigation.”

Speculation about the incident has been rife in Westminster but Commons Speaker John Bercow thwarted any attempt to raise the matter in the chamber by issuing a stern warning at the start of proceedings.

He told MPs: “Members will be aware of reports of a serious incident in the House last night.

“I have been informed by the Serjeant at Arms that the honourable member for Falkirk has been detained in police custody.

“The matter is being investigated. I take this matter very seriously, as do the House authorities. I would ask that no further reference should be made to these reports in the Chamber today.”

If Mr Joyce is convicted of a criminal offence, it would trigger a by-election in his constituency.

The MP, who was elected in December 2000, has served as a senior aide to several Labour ministers including former Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth.

But he is understood to have had marriage problems and colleagues have been concerned that he had been drinking heavily in recent months. Before the incident, Mr Joyce was seen with two women.

In 2010, he resigned as Labour’s Northern Ireland spokesman after failing to provide a breath test.

He quit as the parliamentary private secretary to Mr Ainsworth in 2009 due to concerns over the war in Afghanistan. - Daily Mail