Anyone on Twitter at 9am this morning would be forgiven for thinking that the Louise Mensch resignation story was a fantastic scoop for the Sun. That’s what they were claiming, anyway:

EXCLUSIVE: Tory MP Louise Mensch quitting as MP for Corby

— Sun Politics (@SunPolitics) August 6, 2012

The only problem is that it wasn’t a Sun exclusive at all. Half an hour before that tweet was sent the departing Corby MP telephoned local Northamptonshire Telegraph reporter Katie Cronin to give her the story. Cronin was the first journalist to learn the news, and Mensch confirmed that it was her exclusive. The Northants Telegraph was also first to report that Mensch was considering quitting in October 2011; she told the paper then that being an MP was “a giant strain on family life, so I am going to have to think long and hard about what I do at the next general election“. You’re either in front of the Northants Telegraph…