Labour MPs told to hand in pagers

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Labour has confirmed it is phasing out the use of pagers - once seen as the bane of many of its MPs' lives - in favour of text messages.

The party famously used the gadgets during the early days of New Labour in the 1990s to keep its MPs "on message".

This led to allegations of spin and "control-freakery" against then Labour leader Tony Blair.

But pagers have been superseded by other technology, with MPs expected to hand theirs in by the end of the month.

'Vibrating instruments'

Pagers were first issued to Labour MPs in the mid-1990s, when the party was attempting to improve its organisation and news-management operation.

They were reputedly used by the party managers to inform MPs of the "line" to take on different issues.

Following an interruption in the Commons in 1997, Speaker Betty Boothroyd banned the use of beeping pagers but said she had no problem with "an instrument that vibrates".

They have declined in popularity in recent years, as more hi-tech devices have followed.

In a sign of the times, Labour MP Sharon Hodgson recommended earlier this month that hand-held Blackberry computers be made available - for free - to all in the Commons.

Rules were relaxed last year so MPs could use portable computers to keep up to date with their work while waiting to speak in debates.