Speaker Bercow had his spinners in overdrive when he announced that Bellamy’s bar on the Parliamentary Estate would be turned in to a crèche for MPs and staffers’ kids. This is despite the fact the bar was gutted in 2007 and spruced up at the cost of nearly half-a-million to the taxpayer. The new project is now set to cost another £400k.

The bar has been shut and preliminary work has begun. There is just one problem. Last night Westminster City Council decided that perhaps trying to get prams and buggies up the stairs of One Parliament Street wasn’t the greatest idea and that there are more appropriate locations on the estate. The planning committee have deferred the application, delaying the project even further, at even more expense. Surveyors will be going in to see what’s going on, though Guido’s rubber-stamping co-conspirator thinks the Speaker may end up with egg on his face with this one.