Poor old Kevin Maguire. You know how it is; put a good word in for a disgraced mate, after all, what harm could come from bigging them up despite the fact they were forced out of Parliament for their thieving ways? Bit too risky for the Mirror so pop a kind word in the Staggers, hardly anyone will see it there anyway. Poor old Denis, he deserves a pat on the back. Et cetera:

“Britain’s nascent Eurofan fightback against the Europhobes is tussling with how to utilise Denis MacShane, a former MP who many on both sides of the Commons feel was treated roughly when forced to quit Rotherham. It was MacEurope, a walking encyclopaedia on all things EU, who spotted instantly that Cameron’s double-Dutch big speech on 22 January would upset Monsieur Hollande and Frau Merkel by clashing with the 50th-anniversary celebrations in Berlin of a Franco- German Élysée treaty. Denis the Menace has baggage but few will be as combative or as skilled in the trench warfare ahead.”

Presumably Kevin filed this before the police relaunched their fraud investigation into MacShane yesterday.

“Baggage” is one way of describing it.

He will be super-useful coordinating the great EU-fight back from a cell.