Is Mark set to flee Cameron's circus?

By Black Dog

Last updated at 10:04 PM on 25th June 2011

Dave ‘Flashman’ Cameron had better lay off Tory MP Mark Pritchard. The first person to put a consoling arm around Pritchard after his emotional Commons tirade against the PM for trying to bully him into dropping his stand against cruelty to circus animals was Ed Miliband. Pritchard has the classic profile of a political defector: principled and vulnerable.

Handing in his notice? Mark Pritchard outside 10 Downing Street

More trouble: Prime Minister David Cameron

Asked about the glitzy new background of Union Jacks used to glorify him at his Downing Street Press conference, David Cameron quipped: ‘The more trouble you are in, the more flags you need.’

If the state of the economy gets any worse, expect Dave to be garlanded in swathes of red, white and blue.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister refuses to back down after his attack on defence chiefs who complained about exhausted pilots flying missions over Libya. He told visitors to No 10: ‘Other RAF pilots are ringing up begging to go out there. They think it’s the most exciting thing to happen for ages.’

Beach boy Nick pushes the boat out in Rio

No expense was spared on a trade junket by Nick Clegg to Brazil. The Deputy Prime Minister, pictured in Rio de Janeiro, stayed in the city’s five-star, £400-a-night Copacabana Palace Hotel, and also found time for a late-night paddle on the famous beach. A further £200 was blown on a ten-minute – yes, ten-minute – stay in a hotel in Sao Paulo when his plane was delayed.

No expense spared: Britain's Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg (left) with Rio de Janeiro's State Security Secretary Jose Mariano Beltrame during a visit to Prazeres slum in Rio this week

Tony Blair’s former Cabinet ally Charlie Falconer was a model of diplomacy as star speaker at the launch of the less-than-laudatory biography of Ed Miliband by Mehdi Hasan and James Macintyre. Charlie was a tad less discreet while chatting to guests later – he said the book may have finished off Ed’s hopes of becoming PM.

Myster of missing MoS

The hunt is on for the rogues who have removed copies of The Mail on Sunday from the House of Lords library. Presumably, they’ve been taken to censor our report last week about the fat-cat peers on Brussels pensions who have ganged up to wreck the Coalition’s plans to stop Brussels grabbing more power.

Ulster MPs Jim Shannon and Nigel Dodds tabled a Commons motion – costing £300 of your dough – congratulating TV presenter Christine Bleakley and England footballer Frank Lampard on their engagement. While thugs take to the streets of Belfast with petrol bombs, it’s good to see these two have their priorities in order.

Officials at the Commons expenses watchdog ordered an MP to remove a red-rose symbol from his taxpayer-funded website, claiming he had no right to use public money to promote the Labour logo. But there were red faces all round when the ‘accused’ – Preston MP Ben Wallace – replied: ‘First of all, it is the red rose of Lancashire. Secondly, I am a Tory!’ 

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