Where are all the MPs?
It's 2.24pm in Westminster and the Commons has already polished off its main business, and the avuncular figure of Sir Alan Beith has risen for .
A minister, a deputy Speaker and a whip - and four or five more MPs - are the only visible vestiges of the Commons left in the Chamber.
And the few MPs who had graced Westminster today are doubtless now heading back to their constituencies to prepare for government (or opposition).
The House could have sat debating its main business till 6pm. So there goes three and a half hours of debating time, disappearing in a puff of apathy. There wasn't even a "topical debate" scheduled for this afternoon. Some cynics suggest our parliamentarians are being allowed to make themselves scarce because of the publication of the final Legg report on MPs expenses. I couldn't possibly comment.
Maybe the sight of the MPs debating the great issues of the day (and there are a few matters they could be talking about) would be more salutary. But just remember, the next time we're lectured on the scarcity of Commons debating time, that they mostly cleared off before 2.30pm, when they could have stayed till 6pm. And it's not the first time in recent weeks that business has petered out so early.
I'm Mark D'Arcy and I'll be writing about what goes on in the chambers and committee rooms at Westminster.
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