Tourists around Westminster were today privy to the bizarre sight of an entire evacuation of the House of Lords, the House of Commons, and Portcullis House.
My colleague Allegra Stratton called to tell me that a little while ago she and other hacks had been kicked out of the press gallery in a fire alert triggered by an electronic failure in the Lords.
She spotted four fire engines and a police car full of coppers in plain clothes, which was causing intrigue. Special branch? But as we were talking, Allegra was being herded back into the building. "Clearly whatever the problem was has gone down in importance," she said, clearly delighted to be heading back to her desk. Journalism - never dull.
