Security is tight up here in Manchester with police everywhere. Strange then that one man was able to gain access to the site with a bag containing half a dozen 12-inch carving knives. It’s not clear what he told the sharp-eyed enforcers but, bizarrely, he was waved through in seconds. This is a serious matter; not a basis for jokes about Brutus.
Jim Pickard and Alex Barker, FT Westminster correspondents, share the latest news and gossip from the UK's political scene.
Alex Barker has been an FT political correspondent since July 2007. He joined the paper in 2005, after working in current affairs television.
Jim Pickard joined the FT's lobby team in January 2008, having been a regional correspondent, assistant UK news editor and property correspondent.
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