Tory MP says he spends an hour in the bath every morning 'just thinking about things'

Conservative MP Tim Loughton has said he spends up to an hour in the bath every morning "just thinking about things".

The 55-year-old told an international conference on meditation and self-awareness: "I spend up to an hour in the bath every morning, just thinking about things. One of the greatest causes of stress in the world was the invention of the shower."

He admitted his lengthy ablutions were not cheap, but insisted they were necessary to maintain mental wellbeing.

“It’s like going to the gym for the mind," he added, according to The Times.

Mr Loughton, who has been an MP for East Worthing and Shoreham since 1997, co-chairs the all-party parliamentary group on mindfulness and previously served as a Conservative education minister.

He came under fire in 2015 for claiming £193,589 in expenses, including £25,854 in accommodation costs.

He has previously criticised film director Ken Loach over his Bafta award acceptance speech for, I, Daniel Blake, where Mr Loach criticised the "callous brutality" of the Government and its welfare policies.

Mr Loughton, a former director of a merchant bank, described the speech as "the usual predictable drivel".

The day-long conference on mental health was also addressed by Ohio congressman Tim Ryan, one of the current favourites for the Democrat nomination in the 2020 US president election.

Mr Ryan told the conference that meditation helped him stay calm when he read Donald Trump's tweets.