This week's best bits of Westminster gossip - including huge change to BBC election show

TikTok to the election

Not long until the election now. Yours truly has spotted that the daughter of one senior Tory has begun sharing Labour TikTok attack memes against the Tories.

Have a guess as to whom it may be.

Could the social media suggestion of "like father like daughter" indicate it won't be long until their politician dad similarly defects parties?

Put off their lunch 

Talking of partisan embarrassment, which senior Tory candidate recently complained to Mr Speaker that he was being put off his daily lunches in Portcullis House by the displays of Russian war crimes against Ukraine put up in the centre of the modern glass atrium?

Parliament’s latest health and safety risk

Just when you think parliament is safe to work in, the building administrators deliver another blow.

Amid falling scaffolding and masonry, those working in Westminster have now been warned that peregrine falcon chicks could soon begin falling from the sky.

In a recent health and safety warning, Parliament warned staff: “During this time, there is a potential risk of the juvenile birds falling to the ground anywhere on the estate, particularly around the Victoria Tower area.

“Parliament has a duty of care for the welfare of the birds and has provided a document detailing what actions to take in the unlikely event of finding a juvenile bird on the ground.”

Sir Arbuthnot will be monitoring health and safety complaints like a hawk…

BBC axes swing

Sir Arbuthnot hears from reliable sources that the BBC is set to axe its four-way swingometer as seen in recent elections gone by.

Anyone familiar with the BBC’s 2015, 2017 and 2019 election results will remember the swingometer that was adapted to adequately show the swing from Tory to Labour, Labour to LibDem, Tory to LibDem and all parties to SNP.

Yours truly hears that this year the BBC will be sticking to just the one swingometer, in true Professor Sir David Butler style.

Whether it makes Jeremy Vine's graphics any more comprehensible on election night is an entirely different matter.

The battle of next-door neighbours

Sir Arbuthnot used to believe that the views of MPs mattered very little in the outcomes of general elections. However it appears some contrition is required from yours truly.

The Tories have created a fascinating case study in Lincolnshire: namely Sir John Hayes vs Matt Warman.

Sir John won South Holland and the Deepings by the largest percentage in 2019, and while his vote share is set to fall, it is forecast by Britain Elects that he will win by around 10%.

By contrast, his next-door neighbour - Matt Warman, who represents Boston and Skegness - is set to win by just 2.5%, substantially less.

Is this an incumbency factor boosting Sir John? Is it the result of Mr Warman’s political views shining through? Either way, it appears to suggest the personal views of MPs can truly matter in an election.

Reform UK’s vetting solution

Reform UK may have endured a minor scandal this week, but Richard Tice appears to have found a solution to it.

Before revelations emerged that a candidate for Mr Tice’s party suggested Britain should have stayed neutral during the Second World War, he told journalists a couple of weeks ago that AI could be the solution to parties’ candidate vetting problems.

Mr Tice explained: “The idea is you have some AI that can essentially live and permanently vet, and I suspect that’s where this will end up at some point in the future.”

Yours truly thinks that Mr Tice may be very on the money about this one…