Guido was in Starbucks in Victoria Street this afternoon distributing Contra brand contraband coffee to caffeine deprived refuseniks, when he bumped into Tim Montgomerie, just out of CCHQ, “Ha! I have a scoop for tomorrow morning”, before I could congratulate him Guido’s mobile rang, it was Recess Monkey “Ha! I have a scoop”. “Rehman Chishti is the Tory defector“ they both chorused. “Who?” asked Guido.

“Maude’s opposition Labour PPC” they chorused again. To be fair, the Monkey got the scoop from a Labourite who saw them filming “Rehman meets Cameron in parliament” and put 2 + 2 together and correctly got 4. Tip to CCHQ – don’t film a hush-hush video in the Palace of Westminster.

That red-arsed Monkey has been particularly unpleasant about this on his blog, down to publishing Rehman’s personal mobile number. Whatever they may say, the defection must hurt, his official Labour website (Rehman Chishti: Home Page) now has pictures of Blair all over it. Recess told John Bercow and Guido during our pubcast recording last night, “don’t worry we’ll trash his reputation by morning”.

Nasty New Labour.