Today was rather desultory, we were packed and ready to head back on time. On leaving Westminster we proceeded straight to a commercial engagement in the East End.

5th day.[27th March 2001]

The Palace of Westminster in cool, spring sunlight. The usual rigmarole with security and on to the chamber with our guide, who today was a pleasant middle aged female. Her knowledge of the house surpassed any other guide’s and we enjoyed our traverse to Commons, again a new route.

The chamber of course was unchanged, and today I used more rolls of film than ever before. Renewed vigour and a sense of a small breakthrough over the intervening period since my last visit here. Little to report, words are becoming superfluous.

6th day.[28th March 2001]

Today we showed the guide the way. He was a young man who had only been working here for a short while. In previous weeks we had generally arranged our visits on Mondays and Tuesdays, through some administrative quirk on my part, we were here on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. The chamber had more visitors than usual, inserting prayer cards all over the place. I was told that today was Question Time and various important matters were to be put before the Leader.

At one point a strident and fragrant lady member [Mrs Bottomley] for a country constituency asked Laurent for the use of a pencil. He became immediately enamoured of her, and rather distant I noticed. As she crossed the house to her chosen seat to write her name, Laurent’s eyes followed her. As a Frenchman he had not been living in this country enough years to have any history of her political life and was therefore bewitched by her apparent charms

No more diary entries after this date.

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