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Huhne finally walks to Conservative cheers
A resignation over charges of lying should be a major headache for a government, but not with the hated Huhne writes our UK Political Editor Harry Cole
Eight months ago I took to The Commentator to decry the lack of honour and integrity of our politicians – a subject I find myself returning to near daily, but none more so on a day such as this.
As I echoed back then, Alastair Campbell once said you have eleven days to kill a story. The tenacious former Secretary of State for Climate Change has survived 271 but today his career lies in tatters as the CPS finally agreed with the media – questions surrounding Chris Huhne and his ex-wife must be answered by a jury.
As I wrote in May 2011: “Imagine if this had happened twenty years ago. Huhne would have been out of the door before the story had even gone to print. The age of the honourable ministerial resignation seems dead."
And how true that turned out to be. There was nothing edifying about watching Huhne finally realise he was out of options. Any hopes he may have had that he could return after this were shattered this morning and though he tried to keep up his usual psychotically calm demeanour, his eyes were his tell.
Now facing a trial, reality kicks in and the one time Liberal Democrat leadership contender will be defending his battered honour from the back benches. You would have thought this would have been a major crisis for the government but, oddly enough, never in my memory has such a negative story been less of problem for a prime minister.
While Huhne has a reputation for agitating and could have probably downed his leader Nick Clegg the week before this story broke in the wake of the AV referendum, his behaviour and slippery spinning since then has weakened his character and neutralised his potential as a threat.
Huhne’s Conservative coalition colleagues loathed his guts anyway so no love lost there today. Cameron’s refusal to leave the option of a return should Huhne be cleared was very conspicuous and the Tories are rejoicing to see one of the ropes tangled in the propeller of government removed.
Now for that awkward Cable...
Harry Cole is the UK Political Editor for The Commentator and the News Editor for the Guido Fawkes Blog. He tweets at @MrHarryCole
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