MPs plan to build themselves a palace. Have they lost all contact with reality? | Simon Jenkins

Parliament’s proposed ‘temporary accommodation’ is costly, unnecessary – and shows contempt for public opinion

You are an MP, staring glumly at the latest election results and wondering how to restore public respect. What is your first idea?

Incredibly, it is to dream up a palatial new debating chamber, vaguely costed at some half a billion, in the heart of the Westminster village. It will be lavishly furnished with sports facilities and guarded with a “security pavilion” inside an armed encamp...