Lefty front-group 38 Degrees have built up a vast mailing list which they can deploy to flood MPs inboxes with whatever the current complaint of the day is. Guido imagines this can be rather tiresome, but all part of being an elected public servant. Before it used to be the green-inkers and the odd post-card campaign from the NUS, but this, after all, is why we pay for MPs to have staff running their offices.

Tory newbie Dominic Raab therefore looks rather stupid playing into 38 Degrees hands by asking them not to email him as “it’s becoming a real nuisance.” Presumably he was referring to spam like multiple emails that the group specialise in, rather than a one off correspondence. The words “own” and “goal” spring to mind.

If he had left it at that then this probably wouldn’t have been a story, but the fact he has now requested his email address be removed from the Parliament website and not made publicly available is ridiculous. Just because the inevitable annoyance of spam doesn’t mean he can shut of the communication channel to everyone. Guido has a piece of advice – fight spam with spam. Set your email account to automatically reply to 38 Degrees spam with a generic response and periodically keep on top of what they are asking without having to read it 500 times. Simple, and saves you looking like an idiot.