The Old Boy Network is Back

Marie Le Conte | 9th December 2020 | Uncategorised

With the corridors of Westminster emptied by the pandemic, former insiders are out of the loop and personal connections rule supreme, says Marie Le Conte

I was talking to an academic recently about Parliament - what else? - and they confessed to feeling completely out of the loop. I told them I felt the same, and we reflected on the fact that we had not been to the Palace of Westminster for nearly a year. I’ve been writing about politics full-time for over five years, and they’re a senior figure in their field, but the pandemic hit, and suddenly we are no longer insiders. I still call up relevant MPs if I am working on a story, but I do not feel part of the SW1 village in the same way I did in, say, February. I am saying this not to ask for pity, but because I know I am not the only person in this situation, and have had similar conversations with similar people over the past few weeks. It was easy enough when Parliament was virtual; there cannot be FOMO if there isn’t anything to miss out on. When Parliament did come back, at least the pubs came back too, for a short while - but when they shut, the drinking did not stop. Because of som...

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