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How do politicians fill the gap in their lives during the long summer recess? What did they do before the age of twitter?

MPs and AMs may now have been released from Westminster and Cardiff Bay, but some are continuing their political arguments online.

Wales office minister David Jones has questioned the £6,300 cost of the Welsh government's new Oval office-style media briefing backdrop.

Mr Jones tweeted: "One can imagine the uproar it'd cause among the opposition if decided to spend several £K on a presidential-style press room."

It might cause considerable shock among the media too, many of whom will struggle to recall the last on-camera press conference held at the Wales office.

Welsh education minister Leighton Andrews hit back, challenging Mr Jones to debate the cost of the recent Wales office move between offices in Cardiff "or his pointless ministerial trips to Cardiff Bay".

Mr Andrews claims Mr Jones sat in silently on three meetings he held. A Wales office source suggests Mr Jones's Cardiff meetings are "no more pointless" than Mr Andrews' occasional meetings in London.

The Wales office says the running costs of its new home in Cardiff Bay will be less than the Welsh government's new office in London.

A spokesperson said: "In line with the government's programme of driving down costs, the rent negotiated for our new Caspian Point office in Cardiff Bay is 11 per cent less per year than the rent we had been paying under our previous 10 year lease in Cardiff, and it includes a substantial rent-free period. Details of the negotiations of the move remain commercially confidential."

Enter, stage left, Mr Andrews' ministerial colleague, Alun Davies, with a tweet about "the doubling of the Wales office PR team.......busy doing nothing?"

This may come as a shock, given Cheryl Gillan has a relatively low media profile (perhaps that is by design rather than accident). Apparently, the six-strong communications team (in a department of 54) have a role wider than media relations - and cost less than the three-member team under the last Labour government.

Mr Jones wants to know why the Welsh government isn't joining the Scottish government (and the Wales office) at a "business embassy" taking place during the Olympics.

He does make Mr Andrews he has so far found eminently resistible: "Do come and I'll buy you breakfast".