'I don't know if other MPs are all off having a good time': Labour MP who 'won't be friends with Tories' speaks of why she finds it hard to socialise in Parliament

New MP Laura Pidcock has said she doesn't socialise with other MPs because she is too busy trying to work hard for her constituents, and suggested that her Parliamentary colleagues are "all off having a good time".

She was speaking to the Spectator about her previous comments, where she said she would never be friends with a Tory because they are "the enemy".

Ms Pidcock appeared to suggest she works harder than other MPs, saying: "I want to reach out more because I don’t really socialise much.

"I’m just so insistent on doing a good job and I don’t know if they [her fellow MPs] are all off having a good time."

While other MPs, after she made her comments, spoke about their cross-bench friendships and collaboration and said it was an important part of working in Parliament, she said "professionalism" keeps her from having a coffee or an alcoholic drink with other Members of Parliament.

She also spoke of how strange she finds Parliament, telling the magazine that she and Angela Rayner are treated like "exotic creatures" because of their Northern accents.

While she is a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn and enthusiastically speaks about him in public, she said she has distaste for the term "Corbynite".

Ms Pidcock said it makes Labour sound like a "cult of personality". 

She did explain she can't think of an issue on which she disagrees with him.

Earlier this  year, the MP made waves when told Refinery29 that she wouldn't “hang out with Tory women” who are “no friends of mine” and “an enemy to lots of women”.

She continued her comments in an interview with pro-Corbyn blog Skwawkbox: "Whatever type [of Tory] they are, I have absolutely no intention of being friends with any of them."

The MP was criticised for her comments by Nadine Dorries MP, who tweeted: "She will make a great MP. How can she fail with her politics of hate and such a hands over the ears juvenile attitude".

New Conservative MP Kemi Badenoch said she disagreed with Ms Pidcock's comments, saying she was friends with Labour politicians and would be keen to be friends and work with female Labour MPs.