Jonathan Djanogly under pressure
It can't have been an easy weekend for Jonathan Djanogly, the MP for Huntingdon. He and his friends were waiting nervously to see if there'd be any more damaging revelations in the papers.
They were also worried that his local would call an extraordinary general meeting to make him explain himself.
But he's made it through the weekend and it appears that, for now, Mr Djanogly is safe.
The feeling within Central Office and Downing Street is that, other than the original revelation that the MP used a firm of private detectives to investigate members of his association, there has been nothing too damaging that has emerged.
The feeling within the local association is that Mr Djanogly has apologised and there is no need to call an EGM.
Friends of the MP have told us that he was stung by the expenses scandal which included revelations about jam making equipment, au pairs and very expensive security gates.
Huntingdon was one of the few associations in the country to call their MP in to explain himself. Mr Djanogly survived but he felt, according to friends, that there was a small core of people within the association who had always had it in for him. Hence the private investigators.
When the newspapers found out, Mr Djanogly immediately apologised saying "the investigators have assured me that their inquiries were carried out in an entirely lawful manner. I am sorry if some people judge that I made a mistake. With hindsight I can see that I may have over-reacted, but I was being subjected to very malicious, anonymous attacks on my family".
The Prime Minister admires Mr Djanogly, thinks he is hard working and will make a good minister. "I will judge him on the work he does" is the quote given to us by Central Office.
The feeling within the Conservative Party is that the crisis has passed. But Mr Djanogly has "got to get down to work now and prove himself" according to one senior MP in the region, "and hope there's nothing else."
Both the Prime Minister and Nick Clegg have talked about ushering in a new kind of politics. Is the treatment of Mr Djanogly a sign of that new kind of politics?
Those close to the Prime Minister say that Mr Cameron doesn't like the idea of witch-hunts against MPs and ministers. He feels that if someone makes a mistake they should be big enough to say sorry and move on.
Mr Djanogly will be hoping that's done the trick.
Welcome to the political blog for the East. I'm Deborah McGurran, the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú's Political Editor for the region. From Lowestoft to Luton, this is the place for politics with an eastern twist.
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