Lembit who? Opik dropped from the record

Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik will complain to the Commons authorities today after his name was missed off a key internet search tool.

The online of version of Hansard, which records everything said in Parliament, has a "search by Member" page - but Mr Opik's name is not on the alphabetical list.

It means his Montgomeryshire constituents cannot simply click through to find his written and spoken contributions.

When told of the error Mr Opik said: "I'm both appalled and amazed by this and will bring it to the attention of the House authorities."

And he joked: "I would look to raise it in the Commons as a point of order but presumably that will be pretty difficult if I don't exist."

The 44-year-old, who is of Estonian descent, speculated the umlaut over the 'o' of his surname could be to blame, after it once appeared to cause a Government defeat according to online records.

"The computer thought the umlaut was the last letter in the alphabet and removed everyone else's names," he said.

"So it's ironic. What goes around comes around. I've gone from being able to cause Government defeats to not existing."