If you’re aghast at the state of politics in this country, you should take a look at the Palace of Westminster. It’s literally falling to bits. Riddled with asbestos, with crumbling masonry, leaking pipes and roofs, dilapidated M&E systems, and neglected for decades in a “make do and mend” approach, if it were any other building it would be facing demolition.

But it is not any other building. The grade I-listed building is the mother of parliaments, not to mention a Unesco World Heritage Site. And no matter what one may think of the machinations of the politicians working inside, it’s clear the building itself is in urgent need of a major overhaul – an urgency made all the more compelling by the Notre-Dame cathedral fire of 15 April.

So what’s being done to rescue the Palace of Westminster from the risk of fire and bring it up to a standard that is fit for its exalted purpose as the seat of democracy? And what are the chances that such a major refurbishment can come in on time and on budget?

…