Malcolm Rifkind is not fit to chair the intelligence and security committee

A couple of days ago everyone hated the Telegraph. Now its sting operation on Jack Straw and Malcolm Rifkind, at least, is being celebrated.

And rightly so. Not so much because it shows these two in their true colours as because it reveals how British politics works.

Just as Chris Morris and Brass Eye revealed how celebrities and backbenchers endorse causes they know nothing about, so the Telegraph shows what often lies behind windy talk of "public service". Greedy men looking to fill their boots,

But when we have finished being outraged or laughing at these two boobies, there is a serious point that must be addressed at once.

Malcolm Rifkind is chair of the Commons and Lords' joint intelligence and security committee, yet he is happy to accept money from a Chinese company without having the most basic checks carried out on it.

This is an act of such monumental folly that he must be removed from that role at once.

Pompous, not half as clever as he thinks, a lowland Scot... Fans of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy will recognise Malcolm Rifkind at once.

He is not George Smiley. He is Percy Alleline.