Britain's Queen Elizabeth II with the Duke of Edinburgh during the State Opening of Parliament in London | Arthur Edwards/AFP via Getty Images UK parliament to lose ‘itchy’ wigs Move intended to ‘convey to the public a marginally less stuffy and forbidding image of this chamber.’

Clerks in the U.K. parliament will no longer have to wear wigs and formal dress, it was announced Monday, ending a 300-year-old custom.

The move to "convey to the public a marginally less stuffy and forbidding image of this chamber at work" was unveiled by the parliament's speaker, John Bercow. He said that as well as losing the wigs, clerks would not have to wear a wing collar and white tie in the chamber. They will, however, still have to wear a gown.

Bercow said the changes represented the "overwhelming view" of clerks, who advise on conduct during parliamentary proceedings. Clerks had complained that the wigs were "itchy," the Telegraph reported. But Jacob Rees-Mogg, a Conservative MP, said: "That’s feeble. They must have been itchy for centuries."

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