Steerpike

Of all the MPs' wives, Karen Danczuk and Sally Bercow may have amassed the most column inches. So perhaps it's not surprising that in the wake of Sally's latest news, Danczuk has come to her defence. Writing in this week's issue of the women's magazine Closer, Danczuk, who says she has been described as 'the new Sally Bercow', argues that onlookers should refrain from criticising Bercow over her alleged affair with her husband's cousin. She says that unless you yourself have been a politician's wife you cannot understand what it is like: 'Life as a politician's wife is a pressure cooker. And you can never switch off - you have a bath and there are politicians downstairs.

Forget the riveting excitement of the Labour leadership contest, Westminster was shut down on Sunday night for a different type of race. As part of filming for the new James Bond film Spectre, an extensive helicopter and speed boat chase took place along the Thames. Bond and a mystery blonde sped along the river from outside MI6 HQ in Vauxhall, with 007 firing his gun at a helicopter as they approached Parliament: With filming set to take place on the river for the next three weekends, expect the scene to be a dramatic part of the the film, which is released in November.

Just when Mr S thought it was safe to go to his local watering hole now the 56 Scottish SNP MPs have chosen Parliament's sports and social as their pub of choice, it turns out that the SNP invasion has gone global. Word reaches Steerpike that the presence of the Scottish Nationalists cannot be escaped even outside of the UK. In fact, the revolution has reached as far as Japan: https://twitter.com/williamsonkev/status/598888708528472064 Well, whisky does tend to be a uniting force.

All this talk from Labour and the Liberal Democrats about who will be their next party leader appears to have got to the Tory camp. Although the dust is yet to settle following David Cameron's surprise Conservative majority in the election, Mensch couldn't help but offer her prediction for who the next Tory Prime Minister will be, when asked over Twitter. The former Cameron Cutie says that the man for the job next time around is not odds-on favourite Boris Johnson, but instead George Osborne: https://twitter.com/LouiseMensch/status/599155805582135296 She claims that Bojo's chance has come and gone: https://twitter.com/EJHarrison6 Of course, whether Boris would agree with Mensch's statement is another issue entirely.

Although Labour's celebrity endorsements from Martin Freeman, Robert Webb and Russell Brand did little to help the party in the election, Norman Lamb will be hoping his new backer will help him win the Liberal Democrats leadership contest. Dappy, the N-Dubz singer, has come out as backing Lamb to be the next leader of the Liberal Democrats: https://twitter.com/TheDappy/status/598849481942179840 Although Lamb, who helped fund Tinchy Stryder's music career when the rapper was starting out, appears to have the musician vote, his rival Tim Farron is cleaning up when it comes to his fellow Lib Dems. Farron has pointedly retweeted a tweet pointing out that Lib Dem supporters of Nick Clegg are backing him: https://twitter.

On Monday when 56 SNP MPs descended on Westminster, the youngest of the new intake Mhairi Black gushed that everyone had been so nice. Two days in, and cross-party relations have begun to cool. Carol Monaghan, the MP for Glasgow North West, claims that Simon Burns, the Tory MP for Chelmsford, scolded her as well as her fellow SNP politicians for their bad etiquette: https://twitter.com/Carol4GlaNW/status/598423992509321216 However, Burns has clarified the situation to Mr S: 'I was giving a talk about how to debate in chamber. If you agree you say 'hear, hear' and I mentioned that in recent years an unfortunate habit of clapping has occurred and that is deplorable.