It’s not the worst incident of its kind. A member of parliament in Italy was caught browsing for prostitutes, while some of his peers in Indonesia and Croatia decided to go ahead and watch porn in the chamber. But Mills’ friends in the House of Commons seem to be more worried about the picture than his conduct: they’re conducting an investigation into who took the photos.

Perhaps Mills deserves a break. Sir Edward Leigh, who served as the head of the powerful Public Accounts Committee between 2001 and 2010, described his own experience to the BBC in candid terms: “My God it was boring. I just about managed not to go to sleep.”

He added: ”If Nigel has to keep himself awake by playing computer games good on him.”

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