Not his bosses yet, but a damning leader in tomorrow’s Telegraph:
“Did he, as his wife apparently alleges, ask her to accept a speeding penalty on her driving licence on his behalf? Mr Huhne, who left Vicky Pryce for another woman, says this version of events is “simply incorrect”.”
Why did he say “incorrect” instead of “not true”? Did his lawyers advise him to give that wriggle room?
“He is, in other words, calling his estranged wife a liar. Yet to admit she is telling the truth is to confess to a criminal act. It could be argued that if Mr Huhne is in the right then he is entitled to save his own political skin by accusing the woman he abandoned of lying. But it still looks pretty caddish. It is worse if he is in the wrong and knows it – but thinks it can’t be proved. Either way, a thorough police investigation is required.”
One angle missed out is what if Huhne filled in the form without his wife’s knowledge, and she was in London as today’s digging proved that she was? Newsnight, hot on Guido’s tail, will be touching on this issue tonight. Either way a Secretary of State has been “the story” for near on 8 days. And it’s not going to go away tomorrow…
UPDATE : It looks like it will be a head-on car crash.
Guido imagines Huhne’s bill with Mishcon de Reya just soared…
Guido is late to this one, but he wanted to pass on his warmest congratulations to man about town and Daily Telegraph Political Editor Andy “lock up your daughter” Porter, who finally tied the knot on Saturday. Many a maiden will be crestfallen at this news…
Guido’s wedding invitation must have got lost in the post, but he’s looking forward to the upcoming christening.
Very soon.
Guido goes to pixel breaking it at 13.52 and 7 minutes later Michael Crick reveals:
http://twitter.com/#!/BBCMichaelCrick/status/70126183110553600
You snooze, you lose…
Vicky Pryce claims that she was at work in central London on the 12th March 2003 and “attended a high profile conference” so she could not have taken the points in Essex. And it looks like she is telling the truth. She wouldn’t have got out of this event at the LSE until late that night:
Wednesday 12 March 2003 City Alumni event:
“The New Economy was a fraud perpetrated by a slick public-relations machine”
Panel: Diane Coyle, Stephen King, Vicky Pryce. Old Theatre, LSE. 6:30pm.
Guido is FoIing the latest reincarnation of the DTI to get her diary for the rest of the day. Ever keen to help the police investigation, now all the Police need to do is look to see if Vicky took any points that day and at what time. Simples…
Huhne has met with the DPM again this morning, but Guido has got hold of the footage of another crisis meeting:
Great spot from a commenter. You couldn’t make it up…
Huhne’s silence has been laughably broken:
“All I want to say is simply that these allegations are simply incorrect. They have been made before and they have been shown to be untrue. And I very much welcome the referral to the police as it will draw a line under the matter. I don’t want to say any more than that. I think the police can get to the bottom of this.”
Straight out of the Labour spin book… Huhne’s phone-call to his wife proves how unwelcome this new, not old, story is. A shifty, quiet, low key, yet ultimately calm denial with no reference to the wife. Huhne ran away from further questions, but has finally broken cover. His frown didn’t look very welcoming.
