Mark Menzies has resigned from the Conservative Party but is to remain as a member of the House of Commons until the general election.

This is what generally happens when an MP gets into hot water, but it has long seemed to me that it gets things the wrong way round.

It's being a member of the Commons that requires a degree of probity, not belonging to a political party. I suppose if your behaviour while a party member is bad enough you will be slung out in disgust or from fear you will become a liability, but all parties have members they would not dream of putting up as Westminster candidates.

Menzies has denied the allegations against him, but he still strikes you as an unhappy bunny. I suspect he's going to need his friends in the coming weeks, whatever action the authorities decide to take.

And if he's anything like most politicos, many of his friendships and much of his social life will have been found through his party. Now he has resigned from the Conservative Party, he is much less likely to meet those friends.

I suppose I'm saying political parties have a duty of care towards candidates who get elected, and that duty becomes more important when those successful candidates run into personal trouble.