Oona King launched her diaries, House Music, at one of Bournemouth's more fashionable venues last night.
The former MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, who was ousted by George Galloway two years ago, was at pains to stress that she did not miss Westminster - or not the palace, anyway.
"I'm just having a great time and not having to worry about Crossrail, the local hospital," she told an admiring James Purnell - another of the three MPs who enjoy house music (the other is Ben Bradshaw, the health minister).
"The way I feel now, I would not for all the tea in China go back to the House of Commons - or the House of Lords." Point taken. Lady King of Bow can wait.
Those hoping for a disquisition on policy will be disappointed. House Music is about the experience of a woman who came to believe that MPs must relinquish any hope of a private life if they want to prosper under the current system.
The fact that the press is chiefly interested in King's remarks about Gordon Brown - while still an MP, she wrote in her diary that listening to him was "better than sex" - says much about the difficulties of being a young and outspoken female MP, but she avoided provoking the media, preferring to concentrate on parliament's failings.
"I certainly don't disown that quote, I don't stand by it," she said, confusingly.
King has a tendency to think about self-censoring and then decide against it. Things "get on my nerves, I was going to say tits". The frankness can be winning, but occasionally it gets in the way of her message.
Delegates watched part of a film to be broadcast next month following King as she unsuccessfully defended her seat against Galloway in 2005.
It did her few favours, particularly when she was filmed discussing Iraq in the back of a taxi.
Can King, now a fellow at Chatham House, begin to emerge from under the shadow of her decision to back the war? The jury is still out.
