Back in January Labour’s deputy leader insisted:

“The public worry that the relationship between the press and politicians has been far too close.  It’s fair to say that over 30 years in parliament, I don’t ever remember being described as a “darling of the press”. Harriet Harperson – Hapless Hattie – “she who hates men” – and those are some of the nicer things that have been said.”

Funny then that in the first six months of this year Harman had almost twice as many meetings with members of the press than she did with her own constituents. Between the beginning of January and the end of June Harman had no less than 31 separately listed meetings with media figures, including a “general discussion” with Sun editor Dominic Mohan, whose paper she has accused of “bullying” the Labour Party.

Over the same period Harman held just 18 constituency surgeries. That means she met Camberwell and Peckham residents three times a month, while she met people from the media on average five times a month. Hattie says she’s never been called a darling of the press, Guido is happy to set the record straight…