Brexit debate: Why are MPs in the House of Commons talking about codpieces?

‘Cox’s codpiece’ has entered the Brexit dictionary. Political editor Joe Watts explain why

Geoffrey Cox has found himself in the growing dictionary of Brexitisms (AFP/Getty)

There was a bizarre moment in the Commons on Thursday when MPs appeared more concerned with an item of Tudor attire that covered a man’s dignity, than they were with governing the country.

The codpiece, as modelled by Henry VIII in almost any portrait, is a sort of upturned pouch designed to shield and also draw attention to a gentleman’s crotch.

But the word’s vague similarity to attorney general Geoffrey Cox’s surname and to a particular legal device, means it has now entered the growing dictionary of Brexitisms that afflicts our news copy.