On Tuesday morning, with our Prime Minister engulfed in another scandal entirely of his own making, KentOnline journalists began phoning our 16 Conservative MPs for their thoughts.

Twelve hours later just one, Natalie Elphicke, had gone on the record to condemn yet another egregious breach of the Covid rules the rest of us have been expected to live by.

Helen Grant, MP for Maidstone and the Weald, found time to release a statement welcoming the return of children to classrooms in Uganda.

Good news no doubt, but it’s a shame she could not find time to share her thoughts on a matter probably closer to the hearts of her constituents.

Maybe Rehman Chishti, who represents the people of Gillingham and Rainham, was experiencing technical problems that resulted in the almost immediate termination of his phone call with our reporter.

Tom Tugendhat found time to promote his column in the New Statesman but, alas, could not find time in his diary to speak to us.

As for Gordon Henderson’s ‘My only comment is no comment’ - well, it’s probably best we keep our thoughts to ourselves too.

In fairness Tracey Crouch, an MP never afraid to divert from the party line, referred us back to the statement she released last time Number 10 officials were found to have trampled over their own rules, whilst Sir Roger Gale took to Twitter to release a comment of sorts.

When our elected representatives refuse to talk to us they are not just snubbing KentOnline, they are insulting all those they represent in Parliament.

KentOnline has no political standpoint, other than a belief that with 16 of the county’s 17 MPs being from the same party it is our job to ask awkward questions sometimes.

We understand that commenting on the performance of your boss in public is never comfortable, but when that boss is Boris Johnson the usual rules do not apply.

The PM surely now is a busted flush, the only question being whether he departs Number 10 sooner or later.

Attention will now turn to Boris Johnson’s performance in the Commons today. It presents another opportunity for our local MPs to share their thoughts - we hope this time more of them take it.