Why do politicians constantly bring plagues on their own houses? This week, the Tories have embraced the Jared O’Mara allegations with gusto, prompting Theresa May to speak about it at Prime Minister’s Questions, calling for emergency debates and writing letters about the matter. Some Labourites have been responding by pointing out that it’s highly unlikely the Tories will be entirely clear of sexists themselves. Of course, the Labour point is being deployed as whataboutery to distract from the party’s own nightmare with its Sheffield Hallam MP. But it is also true - and given there is now an appetite in the media for exposing other MPs for similar behaviour, it is a foolhardy tactic for the Tories to have deployed, as it brings a plague on their house too if they are found to have MPs who were kicked off foreign trips for inappropriate behaviour, or whose misogyny was known to the party but not dealt with.

Labour has made the same mistake in the past week, making a tremendous fuss about Tory MP Douglas Ross missing the Opposition Day vote on Universal Credit to referee at a football match in Barcelona. It was an easy political point to score, but it only had short-term gains: this week it turned out that Laura Pidcock had been given permission by the Labour whips to miss the emergency debate on Universal Credit because she was on a holiday in Venice which had been booked by her partner before the snap election. Jeremy Corbyn’s spokesman struggled to explain the difference between Pidcock’s longstanding engagement and Ross’s longstanding engagement when asked about this yesterday. The reason he struggled is that there isn’t a difference, and Labour tripped over its own feet, just as the Tories are laying down shoelaces for themselves to trip over on sexist MPs.

What’s the benefit of the parties getting involved in these stories anyway? The Jared O’Mara allegations were news enough without the Tories needing to whip anything up at all. They could have maintained a dignified silence on the matter. Douglas Ross missing a day in Parliament was something a paper could quite easily have reported without a Labour comment at all, but instead Labour MPs whipped up sound and fury about his absence, before defending Laura Pidcock over hers. It would be much wiser if politicians let those outside Parliament call the plague on their house, especially when they don’t have confidence that they are really any better than the party they are complaining loudly about.