Novel ideas...

Lobbydog hears that Notts MP Patrick Mercer is soon to become a published fiction author.

The Tory military expert from Newark has signed a three-book deal with publishers HarperCollins.

He was just about to hand in the finished manuscript of his first offering for editing, when a technical error caused the last chapter of 8,000 words to be wiped from his computer - yet another innocent victim of data loss.

The story is going to be a historical epic, more details soon...