Speculation is rife about who stuck the knife into David Laws and told Holly Watt at The Telegraph that she might want to go back and take a look at their well guarded, unredacted, expenses files. There was a desire to out Laws officially from the moment he stepped into the Treasury, but who could have been so angry with his hurtling rise to village-fame?
Obvious suspect number one would have to be the man fleeing the scene of a crime. Liam Byrne was humiliated and has left his recovering party wide open to attack with his infamous “there’s no money left” note that Laws revealed so publicly. Baldemort doesn’t look like a man who would let things go lightly…
Some eyebrows were raised at Alastair Campbell over the weekend after he appeared on Question Time slamming Laws on Thursday and even produced a framed photograph of the former Treasury Chief. Vendettas are his forté, but would he or Byrne have had the knowledge of Lundie? That vital clue points towards a Brutus-style stab in the back….
As Guido’s old chum David Aaronvitch said, Vince Cable has spent the last three weeks looking “like a bulldog sipping piss from a nettle.” He has got the raw end of the cuts and his economic reputation was decimated by Laws. Clearly he isn’t a happy bunny and as Guido wrote last week, he stood down as Deputy Leader in a simple manoeuvre to have the left-winger Simon Hughes elevated, reminding Clegg of the more lunatic elements of his party. In collusion with Hughes, Vince is clearly up for causing trouble. A former Deputy Leader and a former President of the Liberal Democrats would be privy to vital information about their MPs. Like rumours of boyfriends for example.
David Laws’s right-wingery drives the left of his party round the bend. When he became the darling of Westminster, applauded on both sides of the House for his deft Commons performances, he would have given many of them the needle. The culprit could be the one who would have not only the spite but the knowledge too. Either that or it was some young upstart at Edelman who wanted to make a quick buck.
Or perhaps Holly cross-checked the expenses claims against records for the address, noted that the landlord lived at the address and was a good looking young man which in view of the rumours… You know, good old fashioned research?
