Alexander Dumas wrote that every man has his price. Mine is probably enough for a new camper van, some replacement fishing tackle, and an occasional weekend off work. But the world-famous publicist to underwear models and generally aggrieved, Max Clifford, is an altogether wilier bird and now and even richer one.

A little bit of history was made in Parliament this week, when 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. The House was voting on the recommendations of the Wright Committee on Parliamentary reform, of which I was member. On the day of the big vote my job was to organise MPs to turn up and vote through a full package of reforms which would give MPs the ability to directly elect both the chairs and the members (by party) of the Select Committees of the House of Commons, and establish a Backbench Business Committee to give the Commons control over all non-Government business. All the key reforms went through in spite of the poorly organised opposition from the traditionalists in all parties. A start has been made in handing power back to the Chamber of the House of Commons which can only help to begin to restore trust in our political system.

I suppose, given that the only proper job David Cameron had before entering Parliament - apart from mucking out the family stable - was in marketing, it should not come as too much of a surprise to learn that the top priority for the new Conservative leader was to “de-contaminate” the Tory brand. God knows, it needed it after the Poll Tax, Black Wednesday, Cash for Questions, Neil Hamilton, Jeffrey Archer, Jonathan Aitken, William Hague (and the baseball cap), IDS (before he discovered socialism), the dark night of Michael Howard and Cameron’s own brilliant wheeze to assist the 2005 election defeat, namely, charging NHS patients half the cost of hospital operations.

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.