Conscience or Madness?

I will soon start a series of posts on the British political system, and how it differs from our political system in America. As a sort of preview to that topic, here is a rather strange story out of London. As someone who follows their politics fairly closely from my vantage point across the pond, I'm baffled by this. But, if you read some of the BBC's commentary, it seems as though I'm not alone; the British don't understand it either.