Mice were spotted running around the Portcullis House kitchen area earlier this week, in news that will not settle the minds (or the stomachs) of people who work on the Parliamentary Estate. PCH is only eighteen years old and yet already it is breaking at the seams; with broken fountains being removed, leaking office roofs, broken air conditioning, windows cracking in extreme heat, dying trees, and mice in abundance. Blair’s PFI palace is falling to pieces…

Guido hears that senior parliamentary authorities are expecting to have to begin extensive refurbishment work on Portcullis House as soon as the unprecedented restoration and renewal work in the Palace of Westminster winds up. Complete PCH refurbishment will be extensive, expensive, and difficult as the £235 million structure is built into Westminster Tube Station below. Just as MPs and their staff thought they would be able to finally have some peace and quiet…