Someone is picking the leaves off trees at the UK parliament, one by one

In scenes that would be better suited to the rose gardens of Alice In Wonderland’s Queen of Hearts, someone is manually picking the leaves off the trees at Westminster Palace.

The unbelievable sight at the home of the UK parliament was first spotted by the Daily Telegraph's Senior Political Correspondent, Christopher Hope, who tweeted a photo of the work in progress, captioned: "This is how Autumn happens in the Palace of Westminster. The lady on the ladder is pulling the leaves off the trees."

This is how Autumn happens in the Palace of Westminster. The lady on the ladder is pulling the leaves off the trees. pic.twitter.com/ruOEq9MW22

— Christopher Hope📝 (@christopherhope) November 14, 2014

The tweet, which quickly caught the public eye, has been dubbed #LeafGate, and was so unusual that Sky reporter Darren McCaffrey went to the scene personally to verify it himself.

Yes, I can confirm someone is de-leafing a tree, one leaf at a time in Parliament? Why? I'll try to find out. pic.twitter.com/ESS8NBF9sR

— Darren McCaffrey (@darrenmccaffrey) November 14, 2014

Incredible, perhaps - but true, having been verified by both the gardener and an official spokesperson. And apparently, they do this every year.

In a report for the Telegraph, a spokesperson for the House of Commons told the paper: "If we waited for the leaves to fall off it would waste a lot of time raking them up. It is more time efficient."

HoC spokesman on #leafgate: "The House of Commons employs a gardening service which covers maintenance of more than 145 trees on..." 1/3

— Christopher Hope📝 (@christopherhope) November 14, 2014

"... separate the cost of removing leaves from the trees in New Palace Yard from the wider cost of the gardening contract...." #leafgate

— Christopher Hope📝 (@christopherhope) November 14, 2014

"...the leaves are removed each winter as a more time-efficient alternative to raking fallen leaves.” 4/4 #leafgate Any more questions?

— Christopher Hope📝 (@christopherhope) November 14, 2014

The gardener in question told Hope that she was "pleaching" the trees - a term normally used to refer to intertwining branches in hedgerows or trees which cover walkways.

Politics, eh?