John Whitby, the new Labour MP for the Derbyshire Dales, has been attracting attention for his Stakhanovite work ethic, dubiously claiming to be working 40 hours a week as a City Councillor alongside his job as an MP. Perhaps everything is not as it seems…

48 hours is the weekly working hours limit someone can normally work per week (under legislation introduced and championed by Labour), leaving Whitby theoretically with a paltry eight hours a week for his £92,000 per annum MP job – not bad for a part time gig. Seeing as the House sits for around 30 weeks a year that’s an hourly rate of £378…

Whitby’s vast appetite for work may have something to do with the precarious position Derby City Council find themselves in. Their leader was recently replaced after a vote of no confidence and the council desperately need Whitby to remain in his post and shore up their tiny majority. He missed a hustings in his Derbyshire Dales constituency to vote on a City Council matter. A poor call as Labour lost the vote anyway…

His constituents aren’t happy. Many have complained of unanswered emails and phone calls, while Whitby hasn’t set up a constituency office yet, or even spoken in Parliament. A risky strategy for someone with a razor thin majority of 350. So much for “country before party”…