Tory MP Louise Mensch quits Commons

The former chick-lit writer is one of the most vocal MPs of the current parliament.

Self-confessedly “not tribally Conservative“, (she was briefly a member of the Labour Party during Tony Blair‘s time as leader,) her propensity for speaking her mind is something which has drawn her into a number of controversies since she took the marginal seat of Corby from Labour’s Phil Hope in the 2010 election.

Despite being a backbencher, her profile has soared higher than many of her commons contemporaries largely, it could be argued, due to a canny skill for self-promotion.

Formerly Louise Daphne Bagshawe, Ms Mensch joined the commons after a career writing racy “escapist women’s fantasy” novels with titles such as “Desire”, “A Kept Woman”, “The Devil You Know” and “Venus Envy”. She had previously worked in the music industry as both a press and marketing officer, touring the world as a 21-year old with heavy metal bands.

Drugs and apologies

Charismatic and charming, Ms Mensch has won and lost fans with dizzying regularity during her short time as an MP. In a 2008 interview with the Daily Telegraph, she revealed her personal motto is “always leap before you look”, her detractors may find that appropriate.

A member of the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) select committee, she was forced to apologise to former Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan after claiming during the high-profile phone hacking hearings (under parliamentary privelege) that he had been “open about personally hacking phones”. Mr Morgan has always strongly denied these allegations. She blamed her comments on “a misreading of an article in the Daily Telegraph”.

Conversely, she won praise for her candour when she revealed that someone purporting to be an investigative journalist had threatened to write an expose about her, alleging she had been sacked from her job with record company EMI because she had been writing her books on company time and that she had also taken drugs with the violinist Nigel Kennedy.

Her unexpected response was to release the journalist’s email and give her response to the allegations. Yes, she said, it was “highly probable” that she had taken drugs during her twenties and she rejected the claims about her EMI dismissal.

She ended her reply: “Most importantly, I have not the slightest intention of being deterred from asking how far the culture of hacking and blagging extended in Fleet Street.”

I am devastated by the necessary decision that I have had to announce today. It has been an incredible honour serving the people of #CorbyEN

— Louise Mensch (@LouiseMensch) August 6, 2012

Plastic surgery

She married her second husband Peter Mensch, the manager of rock band Metallica, in 2011; he currently lives in New York to where Ms Mensch now plans to move. She has three children from her first marriage to Anthony LoCicero.

Early in 2012, a 60-year old man was convicted of sending her a threatening email telling her she must choose which of her three children would die. The threat followed comments she had made during riots in England that the police should have the power to temporarily close social networks.

She herself is famously a prolific user of Twitter, though recently she launched her own politically-focused social network, Menshn, so that users can “talk on topic” rather than more generally.

Ms Mensch, who describes herself as a feminist, was challenged during an interview to admit to having had plastic surgery. “You should note,” she told the Guardian’s Decca Aitkenhead, “that I’m not denying anything”.

Tributes to her have come from political foes as well as friends. Fellow DCMS committee member Tom Watson tweeted: “You’re a remarkable character Louise, be all you can be,” while fellow Conservative MP Margot James said: “Just heard the really sad news that @LouiseMensch is standing down, for good reasons at least, but she will be so missed”

A closely-watched by-election will take place on 15 November for her constituency, which she won by only 1,951 votes in the 2010 general election. Labour had previously held the constituency since 1997.