Why did my old friend Patrick Mercer fall for a sleaze sting? I’m pretty sure I know

It’s sleaze time again in Westminster. A few good stings by the broadcasters and the press and we see his lordship ‘Nuclear’ Jack Cunningham coining it by asking for £12,000 per month to make use of his extensive contacts and also his ability to get a table on the terrace of the Lords. £12,000 a month! His dad, Alderman Andrew Cunningham, did three years in chokey for his role in the Poulson affair, back in the 1970s. Two other members of the Upper House were filmed similarly grasping at the loot on offer from the Sunday Times.

And then there’s Patrick Mercer MP, who has resigned the government whip and will not be standing again in Newark. He tabled questions about Fiji being readmitted to the Commonwealth without having revealed that he was being paid to ask these questions, it would seem. It’s always fun watching the surreptitious film of these characters, torn between greed and the worry of being found out.