Hughes quickly grew disillusioned about some of the routine work of a "voting fodder" Member of Parliament, and began suffering what he called "backbencher blues"; where once he had been able to decide housing allocations, he now felt he could do very little for the same families. He did get on well with the catering staff of the Houses of Parliament; they nicknamed him 'Yosser', while he noted that they had trained at a catering college in his constituency. His Parliamentary speeches were often enlivened by historical allusions, and were often scathing of the Thatcher Government but also for good humour, which won him friends on both sides of the Commons. Hughes' good humour was said to desert him only on Monday mornings if Everton F.C. had been defeated at the weekend.