Is it worth journalists going to parliament or not?

The Independent’s political team in Westminster has mostly been working from home for the past few months, in compliance with government health guidelines.

Lobby briefings have been conducted remotely, contacts spoken to over the telephone, WhatsApp, and Zoom, and our office in the Palace of Westminster has been largely empty.

With much parliamentary business currently being conducted remotely anyway, there was no sense in going into the office – but as this changes, we now face a choice about what to do.

The government instruction remains to stay at home when you can do your job properly there – though journalists covering the pandemic are officially recognised as key workers and can use their discretion.

Some parts of our job can easily be done at home, like a regular office worker. I can physically write stories on my laptop, I can take telephone calls, and attend events that are still largely being hosted virtually.

But some things haven’t translated as well: for a start, many stories originate through casual conversation and back channels that only really happen in person in parliament.

We can probably live without that in the name of public health, but more crucially, it is also our job to physically report on what is happening on the parliamentary estate. Sometimes unplanned things happen, away from the cameras of the chamber, and someone has to be there to report them. It is the whole reason we have journalists based in Westminster in the first place.

The question for us now, as things have started to open up a bit and more politicians physically attend the Commons, has been to judge the right balance.

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At the moment we’ve decided to only have one staff member in our Westminster office each day, to make sure we have a presence there keeping an eye on the comings and goings.

The Palace of Westminster in semi-lockdown is in some respects very different, and in other respects quite normal.

The first thing I noticed on arrival was that the cycle parking was full, despite there being fewer people than usual around. Despite the weather still being a bit hit or miss, a lot of people have decided to swap public transport for two wheels.

I noticed another change on arrival at my desk – a little card saying “sit here”. Someone from the parliamentary authorities has worked out how many people can safely sit in each room, and marked a certain number of spaces with cards. This wasn’t particularly relevant to me given I was the only person in the room.

While there were fewer people around than usual, the corridors are by no means deserted. MPs’ parliamentary staffers are largely working from home, but there are MPs around. As usual, there are also a lot of maintenance workers and police officers, who can’t do any of their jobs from home.

Journalistically, most outlets seem to be taking a similar approach to us, with the exception of a couple of semi-permanent fixtures who seem to live in the building. I’ll leave you to guess who they are for the sake of their privacy.

I expect things to gradually get a bit busier as we pass Easter – then we’ll probably reassess our approach. But for now, it seems to be working well and striking the right balance.

Yours,

Jon Stone

Policy correspondent