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You know it's the end of term at Westminster, when MPs insert pantomime references into their exchanges.

Rhondda Labour MP Chris Bryant compared George Osborne to "Baron Hardup" and him to be more "Prince Charming" - only to be dismissed as a "pantomime dame" by the Chancellor, much to his annoyance.

There was more evidence of the season of goodwill at the Speaker's House, where I met John Bercow and his deputy Nigel Evans for a profile of the Swansea shopkeeper's son (Evans not Bercow!) to be shown on Wales Today.

He gave me a brief history of the Speaker's chair and the need for deputies: "It
used to be a commode and in the old days before they had deputies they could just draw a curtain around it and I'm sure all sorts of noises happened and then all of a sudden the Speaker could appear again so things could carry on but we're a little bit more sophisticated than that now."

He has also been widely praised for deciding to come out and declare that he is gay. He says he's been overwhelmed by the response since making his announcement.

"If anything I regret I didn't make the announcement earlier. I can't reclaim the 30 lost years that have gone now in the time period that I did not make that announcement and I do hope by doing what I've done as deputy Speaker of the House of Commons will encourage others who are contemptingat whether they ought to announce it to annonce it.

"I can only begin to tell you the amount of support I've had off people, people I know and total strangers - the text messages, Facebook messages, emails and personal hand-written letters, absolutely wonderful all of them and I'm so grateful for all of the support I've had from so many people."

Evans will be spending his Christmas Eve helping his sister out in the family shop in Swansea.

"I remember once trying to explain to Norman Lamont when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer that I used to go and help my sister out in a shop and he asked so many simple questions afterwards . Shop? And I had to explain what a shop was, virtually. Stand behind a counter He's say "Counter?" Operate a till. "A till?".

"But it really does ground me, it keeps my feet firmly where they should be," said the Ribble Valley MP.

Unlike Evans the News, I'll be taking some time off during the parliamentary recess. MPs return on January 10. Until then, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

UPDATE: You can now view the report here.

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