The art and geography of hanging around in Westminster to bump into MPs

The micro-geography of this patch of central London where gossip, news and political analysis are exchanged

At times of political crisis an encampment of tents springs up on the small patch of grass across the road from the House of Lords, known as College Green or Abingdon Green. This is where TV cameras have the best view of the Palace of Westminster, and where they interview politicians and commentators.

At election times the big broadcasters build large raised platforms of the kind you would expect medieval royalty to sit in to watch jousting tournaments. At times of impromptu excitement such as last week’s, the tents are more like summer wedding gazebos.

This means that enterprising journalists seeking to bump into politicians know where to hang around. Bumping into politicians is an important part of the job. The reason lobby journalists are so called is that they have access to the Members’ Lobby of the House of Commons, which is just outside the chamber. That has been, since the early days of parliamentary reporting, the best place to “bump into” MPs, because this is the place where only MPs and accredited journalists are allowed.

It was there that Hugh Dalton, the chancellor, managed to spill the main measures of the 1947 Budget on his way into the chamber to deliver it. The details were published in the evening newspapers while Dalton was still delivering his speech, and he was sacked as a result.

When I started as a reporter in Westminster in 1995, that was where I was expected to be when I wasn’t doing anything else. The best time to catch MPs you wanted to speak to was when they were voting, because they would all troop through the Ways and Means Corridor, off the Members’ Lobby to one side.

All that changed when Portcullis House was opened in 2001. This new block on the other side of the road from Big Ben is connected to the rest of the estate by an underground passage. Since then, the best place to “bump into” MPs has been at the top of the escalator in Portcullis House, or, in the summer, in the cloister through which MPs walk on their way to the House of Commons chamber.

Another good place to exchange gossip, news and political analysis with MPs is the building on Millbank, just upriver from Abingdon Green, where the BBC, Sky and ITV News have their Westminster offices. But last week, as the crisis mounted, the centre of media attention moved outside to the green itself.

Yours,

John Rentoul

Chief political commentator