A box of unsent Christmas cards has triggered a lockdown around parliament.
Police taped off the area around the parliamentary estate due to a “suspicious package” and commuters to Westminster going to work were left unable to get across Parliament Square.
The bomb squad were deployed to investigate the package and closed down Parliament Square and Millbank before 7.30 this morning.
The package was even investigated by a disposal robot, and the item that was carefully inspected turned out to be a box of unsent Christmas cards.
A Sky News journalist found that the cards in the box were bearing the name of Member of Parliament Miatta Fahnbulleh, communities minister, and many of the cards in the box were marked “most urgent”.
According to Sky News, Ms Fahnbulleh was expecting a delivery of cards, but they never arrived.