“Kerfuffle” was the term Letts used to refer to the upset he caused in Parliament due to an X post he wrote a week ago. Last Wednesday, the veteran Daily Mail political sketch writer posted: “V slow delivery from Burnham. He keeps almost losing his thread. Maybe he is distracted by an amazingly short skirt in the front row.”

Letts’s post quickly provoked polarised reactions from both inside and outside the parliamentary chamber. MP Samantha Nibletts responded with a heated “This man wants his parliamentary pass removing from him”. However, members of the media came to his defence, with Julie Burchill writing for The Spectator under the headline “In Defence of Quentin Letts”.

However, the man at the centre of this seems unperturbed. Letts told The Mace: “My thoughts on the ‘backlash’ are that it did not amount to much and that most readers, and indeed most Labour MPs, will think my sketch was fine.

“Bridget Phillipson doesn’t much like my stuff but that’s fine by me. It’s a free country, or at least it used to be. Sketch writers don’t have to get on with politicians in the way that lobby hacks do. We have the luxury of not having to rely on them for stories. THEY are our story: their characters, their foibles, their vain strutting on the stage.”

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I loathe them, but I certainly don’t much like ’em.”

Letts recalled an anecdote that: “Norman Shrapnel, a Guardian sketch writer, was once asked if he spent much time with MPs. ‘Good God no,’ he replied. ‘That might affect the purity of my loathing.’ I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I loathe them, but I certainly don’t much like ’em.”

His wit is widely admired, and he has packed colour and humour into a vast array of publications including The Times, The Sunday Times, and The Sun. After a hiatus working from the Commons Gallery for The Times, he has now returned to write sketches for the Daily Mail again.

“Productions had become depressingly political”

Alongside his acidly witty yet playful political commentary, he has also been a theatre critic. “When I returned to the Mail I was able, thank goodness, to give up theatre reviewing. I had done it for 18 years (for the Mail and the Sunday Times) and was knackered by the hours and by the work and by the grottiness of much of the theatre one had to watch. “Productions had become depressingly political. I don’t miss it in the slightest.” he says.

Like many previous theatre critics, Letts had dabbled in theatrics at university. Some of his contemporaries have gone on to have impressive careers. Among them are Pauline McLynn who played Mrs Doyle in ‘Father Ted’ and stage actor Stan Townsend.

When asked if there were any performances he was not a fan of, Letts had no shortage of examples. Notably, a particularly tedious production of The Tempest at Shakespeare’s Globe. He recalled: “They had one prop, a piece of rope. After about 10 minutes one yearned to hang oneself with that rope. “The Globe was always patchy, particularly after Dominic Dromgoole left as its director.”

“Sketches are verbal cartoons”

Now, his bread and butter is parliamentary sketch writing. He says: “No other country has this blend of satire, ridicule, fancy, direct quotation and colourful detail…Sketches are verbal cartoons, often but not necessarily with a humorous slant, and they tend to focus on the character of the protagonists, ie MPs or peers, or witnesses at select committees or whoever is in the scene.

He adds: “Sketches are highly subjective, sometimes pretty rude.”

Parliament is often a form of political theatre that thrives on random, bizarre incidents that leave onlookers wondering if it was all just a dream. Letts recalls: “The funniest day was possibly when pro-hunt protesters broke into the Commons – one of them was Bryan Ferry’s son Otis – and charged around the chamber.

“I think one of them seized hold of the mace. Various MPs harrumphed and one or two tried to stop the interlopers. The deputy sergeant at arms leapt from his chair, ready to do battle – and promptly tripped over his ceremonial sword.”

Letts notes that often his best work comes on days when the news is slow. “I can alight on some quirk or foible of a backbencher. That can be funnier and, in a strange way, more informative than the big news days when the sketch is linked to the main headlines.”

A unique quirk of his writing is his personalised word count, which he has been allowed to return to at the Mail. The Letts word count is 666. “Mark of the Beast, you see. One writes for oneself, for one’s readers, one’s editor – and for Lucifer”. Perhaps this devilish word count is what makes his political skewering so uniquely delicious.