A post-election heart attack finally curbed his political ambition and he will now spend more time with his beloved arboretum at his Oxfordshire home. Expect to see the foppish editor of the Spectator, Boris Johnson, ensconced in his place. Like Ted Heath, with whom he joined the house in 1950, will not sit in the Lords. The former Lib Dem supremo, who stood down as leader of his party in 1999, decided before the last election he would leave this time around. We never see him.
Weekends belong to the party as well as the week.
Tess Kingham One of the 1997 intake of Labour women announced she was to quit last May after finding the long working hours incompatible with the demands of her family.