WHEN he was deliberating last year over whether to seek another term as MP for Bournemouth West, Sir John Butterfill is very unlikely to have included anything about mansions, capital gains tax and servants’ quarters in his calculations. As it was, Sir John decided not to put himself forward again after more than 25 years in Parliament, which is probably just as well.

Given the publicity he has received in the past 24 hours he would almost certainly be facing calls to stand down were he not already doing so. Tory colleagues locally are embarrassed at the revelations for the same reason as David Cameron. He wants to distance the Conservative party from the lavish lifestyles enjoyed by so-called grandees, of which Sir John, who was knighted for his services to Parliament, is undoubtedly one. He was described by one commentator on Wednesday as “toast”.

Sir John has admitted a technical error and regrets his political career is ending this way, though at least he’s already bowing out, rather than being politically decapitated like Mackay, Kirkbride, Moran and others.

No doubt many Tory activists in Bourne-mouth West will be dismayed, in common with unpaid party workers all over the country who slog their guts out on the streets to get their candidate elected, only to feel now that they probably shouldn’t have bothered.