Louise Mensch: An outspoken operator with a modern twist

IN LITTLE more than two years, Louise Mensch has created the kind of media profile most MPs can only dream of.

But then as a best-selling novelist who took part in a photo-shoot for GQ magazine, she is not like most MPs. She has admitted taking Class A drugs and has been quizzed on whether she has had botox.

Born in 1971, she studied at Oxford before becoming a PR manager for EMI and Sony. After only a couple of years, she embarked on a lucrative career as a writer.

Elected as Louise Bagshawe in 2010, winning a seat held by Labour since 1997, she has been a feisty operator. As well as frequent media appearances, she has 100,000 Twitter followers.

But behind the scenes the strains of juggling family – she has three children from a previous marriage – and her career were taking their toll. Mrs Mensch was given special dispensation to work from her Corby constituency on Thursdays as well as Fridays.

But her husband, band manager Peter Mensch, whom she married last year, lives in New York and she has had to split her time between countries.