As the furore about the behaviour of one over-privileged citizen continues unabated, the self-promoting John Bercow has asked MPs, Lords and civil servants to explore a refit of the Palace of Westminster.
As Speaker he chairs the House of Commons Commission which oversees the day to day running of the Westminster Parliament.
The refit is estimated to cost £3 billion and those supporting the move say it is needed to avoid paying a further £7 billion over the next 30 years. I'm with Tris on this. I believe there are plenty empty buildings in London which could be adapted to meet the needs of our elected representatives. However there is an important aspect of this which must be recognised. Why has such a historic building been allowed to fall into such a state of disrepair? It would seem it's more important for MPs to have highly subsidised food and drink than a safe environment in which to work.
Buried in the depths of the Mail is a story which ought to boil the blood of every voter. When the Coalition took office one of the first promises was for early legislation to give the public the power to force by-elections to oust errant MPs.
Quietly the proposals were consigned to a draft Bill and they were not included in the current programme of measures to become law. Recently ministers altered the proposals to 'giving the power to initiate the by-election petition process to a parliamentary committee at Westminster - not to voters'.
Tory MP Zac Goldsmith is suggesting David Cameron and Nick Clegg are preparing to drop the plans altogether.
Aye, a Bank Holiday weekend is always a good weekend for burying bad news.
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