You may have wondered what lay behind this dig from Times columnist Matthew Parris, who wrote the other day: “In their most Sartrean nightmares, MPs find themselves condemned to an eternal dinner in one of those nasty little dungeons of private dining rooms off the smelly and airless lower Commons corridor, as special guests of the Police Federation, the National Union of Teachers and the Friends of Israel.”

What could possibly justify the inclusion of Friends of Israel groups among the hosts from hell, we asked the former Tory MP. It is “because they pester people mercilessly”, Mr Parris said.