Daniel Kawczynski and Tom Taylor, who worked closely together when the latter was chief executive of the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, have teamed up again to fly the flag for British farm produce.

Mr Taylor was one of 54 guests at a House of Commons dinner organised by Mr Kawczynski for the Conservative-Arab network, which was set up by the Shrewsbury & Atcham MP. No fewer than 17 Arab ambassadors were there to hear the Tory MP promote exports to the Middle East.

Now Mr Kawczynski and Mr Taylor, who is chief executive of the Agriculture & Horticulture Development Board, are to hold a series of meetings with individual ambassadors to press home their message.

“British agricultural products are among the best in the world in terms of quality and standards of husbandry and care,” said the Shropshire MP.

“We want to promote our products, in my case particularly those from Shropshire, around the world. A good place to start is the Middle East, which is crying out for supplies.

“I have great respect for the way that Tom worked to turn around the finances of our NHS trust, and it’s a great pleasure to work in partnership with him again,” Mr Kawczynski added.

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This column has mentioned in the past some of the dark arts practised by the whips whose job it is to instill discipline into rank-and-file MPs.

Two Shropshire MPs are currently practioners of these arts, Ludlow MP Philip Dunne, who is a Government whip, and David Wright (Telford), on the Opposition side, and they are now working in an international market.

Mr Dunne joined other whips in passing on tips to their counterparts from a younger democracy when they welcomed parliamentarians from South Africa to the House of Commons.

“Our guests were keen to learn how we discipline ministers and MPs. We had to disappoint them – coalition government ministers are well behaved,” said Mr Dunne, putting to one side what his Liberal Democrat partners might do when it comes to voting on the proposed increase in university tuition fees.

“Some MPs can need ‘guidance’ from time to time, and we offered a few ideas which might be of some help. My lips are of course sealed about the tools at our disposal,” added the South Shropshire MP.

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As Britain’s honey-makers bed down in their colonies for the winter, Euro-MP Liz Lynne has been minding her bees and qs in the European Parliament in Strasbourg by backing calls for EU member states to step up the fight to save the threatened insects.

“The continued decline in the beekeeping sector is hugely worrying, given our major interest in maintaining bees as pollinators,” said the Liberal Democrat MEP.

Stung by the lack of co-ordinated action across Europe, Miss Lynne added: “Our agriculture and biodiversity depends on these insects, and the European Commission must now come forward with a strategy on how to tackle the problem.”

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It’s easy to see why the Liberal Democrats would like to see some form of public funding for political parties.

Latest figures from the Electoral Commission shows that between July 1 and September 30, the party received £350,0645 in donations.

That puts the junior coalition partner in fourth place behind the Tories (£3.7 million), Labour (£2.3m), and the UK Independence Party (£454,234).

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Not so long ago Ken Livingstone, before he was removed as London Mayor, put forward a proposal that Parliament Square should be pedestrianised.

On Wednesday we got a taste of what it might have been like when the Metropolitan Police barred all traffic (except police vehicles) from the Square during the latest university tuition fee protest by students, who were massed in the adjacent Parliament Street and Whitehall.

Pedestrians strolled around like figures in a Lowry painting while mounted police and their horses stood outside Carriage Gates, the main entrance to the House of Commons, as a second line of defence.

To prove that this was London and not Paris, a gardener marched up and down behind his lawnmower creating neat stripes in the grass just inside the gates. He was wearing ear-protectors and seemed totally oblivious to the noise and chanting.

***

Question: What do Arnold Schwarzenegger and David Cameron have in common?

Well, they’re both right-wing politicians (or rightish in Mr Cameron’s case). But what about Gary Lineker, where does he fit in? He didn’t even play on the right wing.

Answer: Each has contributed recipes to the Celebrity Cookbook.

Lineker chose paella as his favourite because it reminds him of his time playing for Barcelona.

Mr Cameron also looked to the continent for his choice: pasta with Italian sausage meat.

The book has been published to raise money for the Prince’s Trust.

By John Hipwood