Andy McSmith's Diary: How Nick Clegg is managing to make ends meet

Drinks firm Pepsi just paid him £22,000 to deliver a speech

Nick Clegg appearing on BBC's Newsnight earlier this month (BBC)

If anyone is worrying about how Nick Clegg copes without the salary he received as Deputy Prime Minister, I can put your mind at rest.

The agent, Mary Greenham, arranged for him to be an a panel at a meeting of executives of the drinks firm Pepsi, two hours' work for which he has been paid £22,000. But that is loose change compared with the money David Cameron will rake in when he leaves Downing Street.

Silly (conference) season

The time has come to do away with the tradition that Parliament closes down for three weeks every year in late September and early October so that the political parties can hold their annual conferences, according to the Speaker, John Bercow.

This year has been a silly year, because the Lib Dems were able to hold their conference in Bournemouth during the break, so that their little army of eight MPs would not miss any parliamentary business; but the SNP, which has 55 MPs, is having to hold its conference in Aberdeen this week, while Parliament is in session. On 15 October, the Tory MP Philip Davies suggested that the whole concept of a “conference season” is silly and that the parties should congregate at weekends so that Parliament can stay in session uninterrupted.

John Bercow revealed that he has written an as yet unpublished article on that very subject. “This is our main place of work. This is where people expect us to be. The idea that, because voluntary organisations choose to hold a voluntary gathering, we should absent ourselves from our main place of work for three weeks has long struck me as incongruous,” he told MPs.

Clothing conundrum

David Cameron has received a gift of clothing from MJM International, the lingerie firm which until August was run by the colourful Michelle Mone, who was introduced on 15 October to the House of Lords, as the newly ennobled Baroness Mone of Mayfair.

The declaration by Downing Street did not say what sort of clothing it was. All we know is that it had a market value in excess of £140, so it has been “held” by the Cabinet Office, because the rules about what gifts the Prime Minister can accept are strict. Mind you, given that MJM is best known for selling bras, it is possible that the clothing was not meant for him but for Samantha.

Which is a good excuse to reproduce the immortal headline with which The Sun reported the news, in August, that the bra tycoon had been awarded a peerage. “Q: How do you make a Lady Mone? A: Give her a peerage.”

Lack of a cuppa from No 10

Dave Bromley, an AA patrolman, reveals on the motoring organisation’s website that he had a call to rescue a car that was jammed on a rising bollard – in Downing Street. “I was kind of hoping David might pop out to offer me a cuppa while the AA van was parked outside No 10. Never mind, but it was nice that the PM knew he could count on us!” he said.

Letting the cat out of the bag

Amber Rudd, the new Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, was asked as she lunched with political journalists how she reconciled her job with the remark made by a “senior Tory source” in November 2013 that David Cameron had been “telling everyone ‘We’ve got to get rid of all this green crap’”. She replied that she didn’t accept that was Cameron’s view and did not know who would have said such a thing.

As it happened, one of the guests at the Press Gallery lunch was Lord Barker of Battle, who, in his former life as the Tory MP Greg Barker, was a minister for climate change in 2013. He shouted out: “Mike Fallon!” Fallon is now Defence Secretary. Then, he was Minister for Business.