The departure of Louise Mensch to foreign shores will leave a gaping hole at the culture, media and sport select committee when it resumes its high-profile interrogations next week with the appearance of the BBC director general, George Entwistle. The committee's most vocal member, Tom Watson, has also departed because rules prevent him holding a seat on the Labour front bench and a seat on a select committee. He, however, has been replaced by the former culture secretary, Ben Bradshaw. The Tories have been less quick to fill Mensch's seat, or that of Therese Coffey and Damian Collins, both of whom have had to resign their committee roles because of promotions in the last Conservative party reshuffle. They will make their final appearance next week with Entwistle. Monkey hears there is a queue of eight for the three vacant slots with a grand selection committee making the final decision next Wednesday. Can't wait.
