Queen’s speech: sunshine, heckling and a hostage

Did the coalition just get bigger? Labour Chief Whip Nick Brown and Government Chief Whip Patrick McLoughlin enjoy the sunshine as we wait for the state opening.

There’s some megaphone heckling from the campaigners’ tented village on Parliament Square but it’s not from Brian Haw, the veteran anti-war protestor who was arrested this morning after a sniffer dog inspection of some tents.

Mark Francois is the whip held hostage at the Palace while the Queen is in Parliament. He’d hoped to be Europe Minister but the Lib Dems may have vetoed that. Strange consolation prize.