Logjams and leaks plaguing parliament

It was Enoch Powell who once called the whips’ office ‘the sewers of parliament’. But it seems that – much like the aforementioned disciplinarians – the sewers themselves aren’t up to much these days. For word reaches Mr S of a problem with the parliamentary plumbing system that are driving MPs around the (U) bend.

The majority of toilets in the old Palace of Westminster were marked as being ‘out of order’ yesterday because, when flushed, the cubicles overflowed, spewing up whatever contents an unfortunate peer, MP or researcher had tried to dispose. Signs and ropes appeared, to ward off others from trying to enter.

And that’s not the only issue facing the poor parliamentarians of SW1. The building is plagued with leaks – and that’s not merely a metaphor. One appears to have occurred in the Prime Minister’s office in the Commons, with passers-by noticing a bucket that appeared last week in the middle of the doorway to his room.