There was a young Member who fell off a table: Mark Harper MP broke his foot while at his wife’s work leaving do

Mark Harper, Conservative MP for the Forest of Dean (Rex Features)

Hansard may record every utterance in the Commons but when it comes to the state of the person speaking, details are scant. Which is good news for Mark Harper, Conservative MP for the Forest of Dean.

Harper has been hobbling around Westminster having fallen off a table while dancing in a Soho bar, breaking his foot while at his wife’s work leaving do. Harper told his local paper The Citizen that he was the only victim: “My wife Margaret was with me – but thankfully she’s a far better dancer so didn’t fall off.”

Harper’s injury might not quite be in the “David Beasant dropping a bottle of salad cream on his foot” league, but for an MP it’s impressive.

Rivals in the 2012/2013 Commons Injury Stakes include Graham Stuart, MP for Beverley and Holderness, who fractured his pelvis and ribs and punctured his lung on a skiing trip to France. Previously another Tory – Sarah Newton (Truro and Falmouth) managed to break her hip dashing down a corridor in Parliament. It’s a dangerous game, politics.