Former Labour MP Chris Mullin’s diaries have been a runaway success, their candid look at the rise and fall of New Labour from the perspective of a minor character in the saga is compelling stuff. However just because an MP has written a book, however good, is that an excuse to throw the rules out of the window?

Tonight Mullin will be in conversation with The Time’s Peter Riddell at an event organised by publishers Profile Books. Strangely no one has batted an eyelid that a former MP is using the Parliamentary estate for commercial gain. According to an email that did the rounds today, Mullin will be flogging and signing his book in a venue designed to pull politicos, while the taxpayer picks up the tab. Could the paper or publishers not have found a private venue, or was the allure of the free room too tempting?

The perks continue long after the days on the green benches …