Chris Bryant takes a sauna with Lobbydog...

Lobbydog has been in Parliament long enough to know that it has a knack for the unexpected.

None the less, I admit being caught off guard when the gods of Westminster saw fit to end my day last night by dressing me in nothing more than a towel and putting me in an overly-heated sauna with Chris Bryant MP.

The unwritten law of the single sex sauna is “don’t look down”, though I tend to err on the side of caution and go for the ‘relax with eyes closed’ approach.

So when Bryant wandered in and struck up conversation my initial thought was – ‘good god, this man is going to ask me to slap him with a bunch of birch twigs’.

As it was however he was perfectly cordial, asking me what I did in the House. I supposed that if I told him I was a journalist, at best he might chide me for belonging to such a depraved profession and at worst, try and shove a rock of hot coal down my throat.

Honestly was the best policy I decided, and when I told him, the conversation quickly moved on to the Andy Coulson phone-hacking affair in which he was surprisingly forthcoming.

He predicted that it would end with Coulson’s dismissal and at least two further journalists in prison. I suspect Coulson would reply, “in your dreams Chris”.

Indeed as things stand now Bryant’s outcome sounded about as likely as me ending up semi naked in an unbearably hot room with an MP. Then again, in this place…