China spy case gives MPs the opportunity to discuss their favourite topic: themselves

Chris Philp thought he’d found the smoking gun: the key to unlocking a major conspiracy at the heart of government. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

There are few things that MPs take more seriously than themselves. Their desire to put themselves front and centre of world events. Their need to imagine that everything they do makes a difference. No greater self-love hath any person than this. If they were to have a therapist, I am sure they would be having a field day. The triumph of ego over ever-diminishing quantities of self-worth.

So the collapse of the Chinese spy trial has been a godsend to almost every opposition MP. Now, you might have thought the key components of the case were two blokes called Christopher being accused of doing the espionage. Albeit fairly basic stuff like leaking diary engagements that weren’t exactly state secrets in the first place.