Nowadays it’s rare for there to be much in the way of whipped business on a Thursday and so I was able to accept with relative confidence a mid-week speaking engagement in Reading with the local Council for Racial Equality. It was a debate on extremism and in what circumstances limits can be reasonably placed on free speech.

There can’t have been a lot going on at the Mail on Sunday this week if all they could find to splash on was “Mrs Cameron might have voted Labour”. I can’t get overly excited about the lovely Sam’s past voting preferences - but I was intrigued to read that she may consider backing Gordon Brown in the coming poll rather than the bloke she married.

It’s not often I agree with Daniel Hannan, but his tribute to Michael Foot was gracious and much appreciated. At a time when so much in politics is all about image, soundbites, and spin-doctors, and when the prerequisite for being a successful political leader is how good one looks on the telly, then it’s a fair bet to say we are not going to see the likes of Parliamentary giants like Michael Foot again.

Well we all knew it was bollocks but now it’s official bollocks - this week, Tory benefactor Lord Ashcroft finally admitted he’s non-domiciled (or a “non-dom”) for tax purposes, and in so doing has made monkeys out of all those senior Tories who have previously been wheeled out to speak out on his behalf.

Reading West MP Martin Salter was tonight celebrating what he described as a “little bit of history” when both the Government and the Opposition front benches in the Commons were defeated by a large margin by backbench MPs of all parties determined to wrest control over Commons business from the whips.

“It’s not often I agree with the hard-line right-winger Daniel Hannan MEP, but his tribute to Michael Foot was gracious and much appreciated. At a time when so much in politics is all about image, soundbites, and spindoctors and when the prerequisite for being a successful political leader is how good one looks on the telly, then it’s a fair bet to say we are not going to see the likes of Parliamentary giants like Michael Foot again.

Labour MP for Reading West, Martin Salter, this week addressed the UNISON Annual General Meeting at the Civic Centre, Reading. Attending for the last time as Member of Parliament, Mr Salter spoke about his 13 years at Westminster and his 25 years spent in public life in Reading.

It’s often lost amidst the tittle-tattle of journalists and bloggers desperate to fill a 24-hour hour news schedule that just occasionally Members of Parliament actually come up with the goods in the jobs they are elected to do. Last week the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, chaired by Tory MP John Whittingdale, produced its long-awaited report on “Press standards, privacy and libel” which has produced a weighty response to current concerns such as those raised by the Campaign for Libel Reform and the ongoing scandal of “who knew what, when?” over the News of the World phone-tapping allegations.

It is now clear that there are some Tories who are secretly hoping Brown pulls it off, such is their hatred of Dave and their belief that Osborne and Co. are hopeless lightweights. My Tory snouts tell me that the Sunday Times poll produced some secret punching of the air, even in Brighton where the Tory “not so faithful” are gathering to (sort of) prepare for power.

Martin Salter, Labour MP for Reading West, has sponsored Little Heath School student Helen Cole in her quest to fly to Morocco for a once in a lifetime trip to North Africa. On Thursday 25th February Mr Salter visited Little Heath School to present Helen with a cheque for £20 as she hopes to raise a total of around £2000 in time for her flight this Easter. The trip is an opportunity to experience the culture of such an interesting country as well contributing to ‘Education for All’, a global project which aims to provide the opportunity of a college education for girls from rural communities.