ANDREW PIERCE: £62million gates open Commons spending probe

When it comes to the new security barriers in the courtyard in front of Big Ben one thing's for sure: there was no barrier in terms of budget.

MPs have been told to explain themselves after splurging £62 million on two sets of gates and turnstiles –and some cobble stones.

There were audible gasps in the Commons last week when Labour MP Nick Smith, representing the all-party Commons Commission, revealed the eye-watering bill for the work in New Palace Yard.

'Have they been made of gold?' joked one parliamentary passholder. The shocking disclosure threatens to spark a row that could eclipse even last year's debacle over the £9.6 million spent on a new House of Lords security door – which still doesn't work properly.

Despite the price, the newly installed security turnstiles have already drawn complaints from female users who say they are so heavy they are difficult to operate – and prone to catching people painfully on the heels.

Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle is already unhappy about how the tendering process was overseen. Now the Commons finance committee, chaired by former Tory Cabinet minister Steve Barclay, has demanded 'a more detailed breakdown of the costs'.

All this from a Parliament supposedly committed to scrutinising Government waste.

It's the question on everyone's lips: why was Robert Jenrick late for his crowning as the latest Reform defector?

I'm told staffers tried to smuggle him into the party's Millbank HQ via a service lift but it had been hijacked by smokers who needed a quick route downstairs.

Attempts to get Jenrick upstairs failed. Not that Nigel Farage can complain – he smokes 20 to 30 a day.

Nigel Farage will be happy – Robert Jenrick's defection to his party means the Reform leader will now be invited to lay a wreath at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday with the Royal Family. A British party leader needs to have at least six MPs, according to a 1984 protocol. 

Jenrick's been called a lot of names since joining Reform, not least a 'Quockerwodger', a 19th century slang word for an MP who doesn't represent their constituents and whose 'actions are controlled by someone else'. Apt.

Keir Starmer hints he may back an under-16 social media ban – while still planning to give 16-year-olds the vote. In his 'logic', a 15-year-old is too vulnerable for Instagram but becomes, overnight, mature enough to help decide the future of the nation. 

Why did Streeting lean left?

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ANDREW PIERCE: A safe seat for Burnham to put the Bootle in?

Organisers of the 30th anniversary dinner for Blairite Labour pressure group Progress placed Wes Streeting beside Morgan McSweeney, Keir Starmer's chief of staff.

Observers described the mood as 'icy': there is no love lost between the pair since Streeting confronted McSweeney over briefings he was the ringleader of a coup against the PM.

But Streeting then startled guests by insisting he'd always defend the place of the hard-Left Socialist Campaign Group within the Labour Party. Is that an olive branch to Left-wing radicals as the health secretary prepares for a leadership contest?

Who will take Amol Rajan's slot on Radio 4's Today programme when he leaves? 'It has to be BBC political editor Chris Mason,' says an insider. 'He's knowledgeable and a great broadcaster. The fear is they'll make some drab diversity-adjacent hire.' At the woke BBC? Surely not!