Last week I was at the House of Commons – well more particularly I took tea on the Terrace – with local MP Lillian Greenwood.

Getting into the Palace of Westminster is quite challenging – they don’t let any ordinary vagabonds in. And troublemakers (like me) are strictly by a appointment.

The entry process is via Portcullis House and they have burly men with machine guns. And airmport scanners. You get to have your photograph for your day security badge taken and it’s a fairly scary process. These people don’t do jokes. It’s not their job to smile.

I got stopped. I must have set the alarm off – as you can see from the photograph, I was carrying a fairly dangerous weapon. The lady who stopped me was apologetic and said they would have to confiscate the ‘illegal’ item – but that I could collect it on my way out. This was fairly decent of them. I didn’t particularly want to lose it.

What I didn’t understand though was why they let me take my Leatherman knife in?