Many winters ago, a fellow House of Commons researcher and I were walking the corridors of Westminster. Suddenly, a hand touched my shoulder.

“Hi, Dan, how are you”.

It was Peter Hain.

“Great, thanks Peter. You”?

“Well. Well. How’s your mum”?

“She’s fine, thanks”.

“Great. She was brilliant on the radio the other day. You do the briefing”?

“Yes, I did”.

“Great. Great briefing. Well, see you”.

My colleague and I continued walking. Then in unison, without breaking stride, we uttered the same phrase:

“Shadow cabinet elections”. (more…)