Despite her obvious desire to reclaim the money owed to her, Mercer’s mistress Sarah Coyle wasn’t seeking publicity. She certainly didn’t sell her story to the Mail on Sunday. She did approach the Conservative Whips though to see if they could intervene to see that Mercer coughed up after getting cold feet on leaving his wife, for the second time. As Guido mentioned earlier he refused to leave his wife, despite Coyle being £8,000 down from establishing the love nest. How did the story get out though?

Emerging from the Whips meeting who did Sarah see strolling down the corridor deep in conversation? None other than Mercer…

Coyle could not restrain herself from berating Mercer in front of his companion, who, sadly for the wandering Member, happened to be a Mail on Sunday journalist…