Is it time to ban second jobs for MPs? 

There are some genres of newspaper story that never die. Among them are sightings of Lord Lucan, public moralists discovered in adultery – and foolish MPs being caught out offering themselves for hire to undercover hacks. A fine example of the third of these broke yesterday thanks to the situationist campaigning group Led By Donkeys, who started out as Brexit-bashers but have expanded their remit to the broad-brush embarrassment of MPs. You’d think, by now, that senior MPs would be a bit more on the qui vive for this sort of thing. But no: they never learn. This sort of sting is now as much of a British tradition as ambushing cabinet ministers on live TV by asking them how much a pint of milk costs; and like that stunt, it works nearly every time.

It’s easy-peasy. You pretend to be a foreign company with a mahoosive budget, approach an MP to be a non-exec or a consultant and then film their sweaty little faces and dollar-sign eyeballs in the job interview before putting it online for the amusement of the rest of us.