While the public has widely mocked the silent Chris Huhne all day through #HuhneTunes on Twitter, Allegra Stratton has got a LibDem insider to defend the deepening situation:
“We are in a similar place to where we were last weekend. Has there been produced something devastating? Not really.”
If that is the case, put Huhne on TV tonight, or first thing on Monday morning, and let him deny it in person.
But have we really learnt nothing new, as the laughable LibDem attempt at spin would have us believe? What about the bit where he orders a cover-up and tries to silence the person on the other end of the line, who is clearly doing the recording and seems on very familiar terms with the embattled Secretary of State:
“If I were you … do not talk. I would have thought you would not want to talk…
…There is no way, there is no way, that there is any evidence for this story, unless you decide to give some legs to it by saying something. Okay?”
Or what about the bit where he instructs the other person with what to do if a journalist rang:
“Just say, ‘Terribly bad line, terribly sorry, bad reception, I’ll talk to you later,’ and hang up.”
Something Huhne’s SpAd Joel Kenrick did to Guido last night.
Or what about the bit where Huhne is directly challenged, that’s new:
CH: “There’s no question of it coming out, because it’s simply not true, that’s it.”
ANON: “I’m sorry, what? Why are you suddenly saying that?”
Why was it then suddenly not “sensible to have these sorts of conversations on the phone”. Did Huhne realise he was being taped?
Today Huhne has instructed solictors at Mishcon de Reya, presumably to deal with the pending police investigation, rather than to start suing people. The courts could order witnesses and potentially damning documents currently out of the reach of journalists. A wise precaution, given the potentially huge public outcry if the police treated Huhne any differently from any other member of the public.
Huhne can’t hide from the cameras forever. At the very least he has got some serious explaining to do regarding that phone call, in public. But no, cowardly Chris is in hiding.
UPDATE: Tomorrow’s Mail splash confirms it was Vicky Pryce who secretly recorded the conversation. If you hadn’t worked that one out already…
UPDATE II: The Telegraph say Essex Police have already looked up the speeding dates and also confirm it was Pryce. As Guido told you last Wednesday…
